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Under Trump and Modi, India-US ties will become bigger, bolder: Jaishankar
Jaishankar said that the two countries would like to deepen ties in defence, security, technology and more domains and are competing on how to take it forward.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar said that the Donald Trump administration was prioritising the India relationship, both US and India approached the world with a clear sense of national interest and shared belief in mutually beneficial ties, they enjoyed a high degree of trust and convergence in interests, they were committed to removing regulations and ease processes to deepen ties, and India-US would become “bigger, bolder and more ambitious”.
As he wrapped up his visit as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special envoy to attend President Donald Trump’s inauguration — a status that gave him a front row seat at the inauguration, he said acknowledging the PM’s ties with the president — Jaishankar interacted with reporters at the Indian Embassy in Washington DC. In the last three days, the minister met his counterpart Secretary of State Marco Rubio, NSA Michael Waltz, six other Trump cabinet rank appointees and the Congressional leadership.
“It was very clear that the Trump administration was keen to have India present at the inaugural. They are prioritising the bilateral relationship. They want to build on the foundation of the relationship to which the first Trump administration also contributed. The current administration also reciprocated our desire to take Quad further and intensify its activities. It was restarted in 2017 when Donald Trump was President,” the minister said, giving a broad sense of the visit.
On the bilateral relationship, Jaishankar said that in many ways, the two sides “approach the world with a clear eyed sense of national interest, belief in mutuality of benefits” and had a “strong degree of trust”and “a high level of convergence of interests”. There is a sense that on regional and global issues, there was a lot of good that both sides could do, the minister added.
Jaishankar pointed out that it was the first day of the administration but there was a consensus in his meetings on the need for India and the US to be “bolder, bigger and more ambitious” and to have more “intensive interactions”. He said it was also important to ease the building of the relationship, which requires dealing with processes and regulations. “I also flagged some concerns about delays in visas. The relationship is not well served with those visa delays because they constrain people to people ties.” The minister pointed that both sides discussed how to do regular things better and that aligned with the new administration’s focus to improve processes and efficiencies.
Jaishankar said that the two countries would like to deepen ties in defence, security, technology and more domains and are competing on how to take it forward. “As someone involved in the relationship for many decades, I would say that the levels of trust are very high and the visible chemistry between the leaders percolates through the system and reinforces the comfort and trust.”
Jaishankar was non-committal about whether a leader-level summit meeting is in the works and the timing of it, even though the Delhi-DC corridor is abuzz with speculation that Modi may visit US soon.
Jaishankar said that this was his first time at the presidential inauguration despite having dealt with US for four decades. “What I saw was a confident and upbeat administration.” He added that there was a sense of buoyancy as far as India was concerned, with the history of working together, and the relationship and this energy was on the Indian side too.
HT asked the minister about US’s decisions to leave Paris accord and WHO and the vacuum it would create. He said it was a sovereign right of countries to take decisions on their international obligations. He said that the two sides had a brief discussion on Bangladesh but didn’t offer details.
