Even before he has been sworn as the President of the United States of America officially ,
Donald Trump has started making head lines across the globes, turning heads, may be
some scrubbing trying to understand the man and his policies. But make no
mistake. Here is a man who just made it to the white house defeating the popular candidate
Hillary Clinton and proving all the pundits wrong and is capable to do what he says – for good
or bad.
It came as a surprise to many when the POTUS talked candidly to Nawaz Shariff the PM of
Pakistan telephonically (http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/01/politics/donald-trump-nawaz-sharif-phone-call/index.html)
He is also said to talk about great friendship between Pakistan and America and praised the
Pak govt and its people handsomely. However this was denied by White house spokesman.
Than he talked to Taiwan unnerving China and also ringing alarm bells in all major capitols
around the world. (http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/05/politics/donald-trump-china-taiwan-clash/index.html). Immediately after there was a statement by democrat John Kerry asking Trump to go through state policies (http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/04/politics/john-kerry-donald-trump-state-department/index.html).
Writing on the occasion CNN observed for Trump in following words , “His tactics also show that
President Trump promises to be just as much of a disruptor in international relations as he
has been in domestic politics, no matter what conventions get broken in the process.”.
The word is disruptor, which in International policies, relations and order carry very high
connotations. A very relevant article to understand what Trump can do in Asia can be
found in a recent article in foreign policy (http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/11/07/donald-trumps-peace-through-strength-vision-for-the-asia-pacific/).
And just before writing this piece we hear that the US president has plans to mediate between
India and Pakistan over Kashmir, a strictly no no policy for India. (http://indianexpress.com/article/india/donald-trump-will-bring-his-extraordinary-deal-making-skills-to-mediate-kashmir-issue-mike-pence-4411126/).
Under the above mentioned information we think that New Delhi has to get more serious and
proactive for its United States policy. To the benefit of all we will quickly try to analyse
the new president and his policy before he takes the oath as POTUS.
First and foremost he is a business man to the core which
reflects in his no nonsense approach towards any issue implying fast action and execution.
Therefore New Delhi ( and the world ) might just do well to be prepared for a wake up call late at night.
Second looking at the opening statements it looks now more probable that the new administration
is going to be more tumultuous, controversial , and with lot of element of surprise and non conventional
tilt to it. The word here is unpredictable and that is what India has to be prepared for.
Third, with the above two points, India needs to up is ante and be prepared for all eventualities
that may suddenly crop up its door. More importantly it must have to adopt a proactive
approach to keep Trump and his administration in good stead. Take note of the fact that he
is a business man and would like to be pampered just like what Nawaz Sharif did and earned
a champagne for himself and Pakistanis back at home.( Pakistan still has the capacity to break
ice and has good network of lobbyists in Washington that New Delhi doesn’t have and should be wary of)
Fourth the VP of Trump admin Mike Pence is seen as the person the new president consults and therefore India
has to maintain good relations with . (http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/30/politics/mike-pence-role-donald-trump-administration/index.html).
India has to review all its bilateral treaties and agreements (https://www.mea.gov.in/Portal/ForeignRelation/USA_15_01_2016.pdf) and check with the new administration
to make sure that everything is in place and how they can be taken forward rather than getting a knee jerk
somewhere down the line without being consulted. More importantly defence ties need to be further strengthened
as the Obama administration has tried to give it a big push.
Fifth India has to use all its lobbies and friends like Hindu republican who extensively worked with
Trump before the elections just to keep the new president in check and good humour. All though the
new president has said to keep his business interests away but its not possible to do so practically.
Trump has huge business interests in India and this needs to be kept in the note book. A businessman is a
businessman and always tries to protect his interests.
No doubt the new administration will try to hurt India on its IT policies and trying to move jobs in United States,
but this needs to be taken in good stead, and has to be handled very politely and diplomatically without showing
our anger or snub.
However great business houses also have good planning and strategy behind them and not
just executing powers. One still need to see how much planning and strategy is at work behind
Trumps latest calls or is he just starting to play cards with a blind.
But as we have said earlier India along with all other nations need to be on an ALERT, just in case
another call from TRUMP or a tweet triggers major reactions from another corner. And for that
reason, no country can afford to remain in ‘sleep mode’ and has to put up a section dedicated to keep
a watch on Trump calls and tweets overnight.
