“US- India Relations is More Driven by State Capitals than by Delhi Now”- Richard Rossow

KOCHI:
“The US has been a key Comprehensive Economic Partner to India in recent years and this trajectory is likely to continue irrespective of who takes over the White House, post US Presidential Elections 2020.”, said Richard M. Rossow, who holds the Wadhwani Chair in U.S. India Policy Studies at The Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington.

He was speaking at a webinar hosted by Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR) on ‘US Presidential Election 2020: Charting the Future of US-India Ties’ on October 22, 2020 (Thursday). He reminded that even as the two countries were battling it out over trade policy and protectionist measures, the trade between US and India has seen an overall increasing trend in the Pre-COVID years.

He reminded that the driver for US – India economic relations is a lot less Delhi now and more to do with state capitals. However regulatory transparency in most states remains poor with few exceptions like Gujarat and Andra Pradesh. Policies to address this lacuna could kick start a virtuous cycle for better US-India relations.”

Speaking at the webinar, Prof Dr G Gopkaumar, leading political scientist and psephologist and former Vice Chancellor of the Central University of Kerala and advisor, CPPR, said that even as the Indian diaspora has traditionally voted for Democrats, the richer sections have preferred the Republican Party. However, this is bound to significantly change this time and we may see a vast majority of Indian Diaspora swinging towards Democrats. The candidature of Kamala Harris, Trump’s anti-immigration policies and George Floyd incident etc will only aggravate the swing.

Rossow reiterated that China remains a core concern for the US. Shoring up relations with like-minded partners in Asia Pacific has been a consistent strategy across two successive US administrations, be it the Pivot to Asia Policy of Obama Administration or the Free and Open Indo Pacific Policy of Trump administration and this is likely to continue irrespective of the election result. However Biden is likely to play a more nuanced approach than Trump and deeply engage with partners here rather than take unilateral actions

The discussion was moderated by Dr Dhanuraj, Chairman, Centre for Public Policy Research. The upcoming elections are crucial for all nations as the new US President who takes over the world’s most powerful office will set the tone of international relations.