India-US trade deal: Democratic Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove, on December 10, sharply criticised US President Donald Trump’s handling of the India–US relationship, warning that his policies risk undoing years of diplomatic progress.
Her comments come on the back of massive 50% tariffs on India — among the highest on any country — and the implementation of the steep hike in H-1B via fees, of which Indians are the biggest benefactors.
A video shared by CNBC TV-18 showed Kamlager-Dove saying that Trump inherited one of the strongest bilateral partnerships in years — a revitalised Quad, deepening defence technology cooperation, and a trusted supply-chain partnership carefully built under the Biden administration.
However, she argued that much of this diplomatic capital has since been “flushed down the toilet” due to Trump’s personal grievances rather than long-term national interests.
‘Trump will be the American president who lost India’
Kamlager-Dove, speaking during a hearing on US foreign policy, issued a stark warning, saying that unless Trump changes course, he risks being remembered as the American president that lost India — or more accurately, that chased India away — while revitalising the Russian Empire, breaking up the transatlantic alliance, and menacing Latin America.”
She further argued that Trump’s antagonism towards India began not from the US’s long-term strategic interests but rather his personal obsession with a Nobel Peace Prize. “While that is laughable, the harm that it will cause is not.”
Singling out India for 50% tariffs has effectively derailed leader-level meetings between the two countries, she argued. Moreover, the 25% tariff rate that has been attributed to India’s imports of Russian oil looks pretty pointless when Trump allies allegedly engaged in “backroom deals” with Putin’s advisers, she said.
Meanwhile, earlier today (December 12), according to Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran, India and the United States have resolved most of their outstanding trade issues, and a long-awaited bilateral trade deal now appears increasingly likely by March, according to a report in the Economic Times.
In the backdrop of the elusive India-US trade deal, the Indian rupee has taken a significant knock, slumping to a fresh record low of 90.48 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the Indian stock market also remains rangebound as investors await the deal.
H-1B visa hike hurts people-to-people ties
Beyond trade and diplomacy, Kamlager-Dove criticised the administration’s handling of immigration, particularly a proposed $100,000 fee on H-1B visas, 70% of which are held by Indian professionals.
She called the measure a direct attack on the robust Indian diaspora community and its contributions to American science, technology, medicine, and the arts.
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