Willing to work with US on trade, immigration, want bigger relationship, says India
Jaiswal said India’s approach has been to address issues in a constructive manner and New Delhi remains in close communication with the US
NEW DELHI: India on Friday signalled its willingness to work with the Donald Trump administration in the US to address all matters related to trade and illegal immigration, saying that both sides are keen to forge a “bolder, bigger and more ambitious” relationship.
Since his inauguration, Trump has spoken of imposing “100% tariffs” on the Brics bloc, which includes India, and issued executive orders and proclamations to launch a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigrants. These moves have triggered worries about the potential fallout on India, though the fundamentals of the bilateral relationship remain strong and trade in goods and services soared to $190 billion in 2023.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal responded to several questions on these issues at a regular media briefing by noting that India and the US have ongoing dialogue on matters related to both trade and immigration that can deal with all eventualities. Using the words of external affairs minister S Jaishankar at a media briefing after his meeting with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, Jaiswal said India is focused on building “bolder, bigger and more ambitious” relations with the US.
Trade occupies a special place within the strong and multi-faceted India-US relationship, and the two sides reached a “record level of trade in goods and services worth $190 billion” in 2023, Jaiswal said. The two sides are also in continuous dialogue on trade-related matters through established mechanisms.
“Our approach has always been to address issues in a constructive manner which is in keeping with the interests of both countries and we remain in close communication with the US administration and would like to continue to work towards strengthening our economic partnership further,” he said.
“The new US government has come in recently, whatever trade issues are there, we will talk it out. We want to enhance the record levels of trade, and further expand it,” Jaiswal added.
Even before his election victory, Trump had spoken about the possibility of imposing retaliatory tariffs on China and India, which he labelled as the “tariff king” in the past. He has also railed against efforts by Brics members, primarily China and Russia, to push for greater trade settlement in domestic currencies as part of a shift away from the US dollar.
Jaishankar has responded to Trump’s threats on this count in the past by saying that India “has never been for de-dollarisation” and that all Brics members don’t have an identical position on this issue.
The US was India’s largest trading partner in 2023-24, accounting for more than 18% of the country’s exports. India also has a favorable trade balance with the US, and any tariffs by the Trump administration could hit exports.
Jaiswal also said India is opposed to illegal immigration because of its links to several forms of organised crime, and that New Delhi will take back all Indians who have either over-stayed in the US or any other country or are there without proper documentation.
“We will take them back provided documents are shared with us so that we can verify their nationality, that they are indeed Indians,” he said.
Jaiswal said it would be “premature” to talk about the number of illegal Indian immigrants in the US, but said New Delhi “will take things forward” and facilitate the return of all such migrants.
People familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that figures from the US department of homeland security suggested there are close to 18,000 illegal immigrants from India in the US, and that the American side had sent back close to 1,000 illegal migrants towards the end of last year. They said the verification of nationality will be done in each case before any migrant can be sent back.
Authorities on the two sides are in regular touch on this issue, and the verification of nationality is a process that can take several weeks, the people said.
Jaiswal emphasised New Delhi’s constructive approach on issues related to trade and immigration and said: “Both sides want to make the relationship stronger, the two sides are keen to build a bolder, bigger and more ambitious relationship.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump share a “warm personal relationship”, and Jaishankar’s visit to Washington for the inauguration ceremony and subsequent participation in a Quad foreign ministers’ meeting had bolstered ties, he said.
Jaiswal responded to a question about Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s reported presence at the inauguration ceremony by saying: “Whenever there is an anti-India activity, we take up such matters with the US government. We will continue to raise such issues with the US government which have a bearing on our security, which have an anti-India agenda.”
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