New Delhi: S Jaishankar is India’s external affairs minister. When asked whether former US president Donald Trump is an American friend or foe to India, he called him “an American nationalist.” Jaishankar, speaking at an event at Delhi University’s Hansraj College, said the India-US relationship is so strong that it cannot be affected by “what one government does and what the other government has done.”
Jaishankar recently joined the delegation that attended Trump’s inauguration ceremony and said the former US president was warm and respectful of the Indian delegation. He questioned Jaishankar on the government’s stance on foreign policy remaining unchanged, saying: “He is an American nationalist, and that is going to make a huge difference to the world” and asked, “And how is India’s foreign policy not going to suffer? There will be some subjects we don’t agree on, but also some subjects where we have the same interest,” he said.
He added that Modi and Trump have a strong personal rapport, which is an essential factor in strengthening India-US relations. Recalling his transition from diplomacy to politics, Jaishankar said that he never dreamt of becoming a bureaucrat, leaving aside entering politics. He then went on to joke, “I got into politics all of a sudden: blame it on fate or blame it on Modi. Modi is the one to blame for this, but too bad he is not here; he can also take some credit because he inspired me to do more in public service.
On 20 January, Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States. During his first week in office, he announced several domestic and international policy changes after reversing important decisions of Joe Biden, his predecessor. These measures aimed at the deportation of illegal immigrants and the stripping of citizenship rights for children of undocumented migrants.
Jaishankar stressed pragmatic foreign policies in the middle of changing equations under new leadership in major countries like the US.