'There's no choice': Experts say next American president will have to work closely with India

The overall positive momentum in India-US ties will remain unchanged though there could be a difference in approach towards New Delhi between a Trump administration and a Harris government, foreign policy experts said on Tuesday as Americans vote to elect a new president.

Dhruva Jaishankar, the executive director of the America chapter of the Observer Research Foundation, said the direction of the relationship is expected to be different in areas of trade, energy and immigration.

With voting underway on the big Election Day, Democratic leader Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump remained neck-and-neck in the fierce race to occupy the White House as the 47th President of the US, according to various projections.

"For Trump, I think there will be some difficult negotiations over trade and immigration, although on many other issues, he has spoken about a very positive relationship with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Jaishankar told PTI.

"On the other hand, with Harris, there will be some continuity as what we have seen under the Biden administration in the past four years. But I think there will be more of a progressive agenda and foreign policy, and that may have some implications for the relationship with India," he said.

Jaishankar said India-US cooperation in the energy sector would be "big" going forward but explained how there could be a difference in approach by a Harris administration or a Trump dispensation.

"The nature of that would be different under a Republican or a Democratic administration. A Democratic administration would focus more on climate change, renewable energy and clean and green energy," he said.

"Republicans would focus more on fossil fuel, oil and gas. But either way, I foresee a much closer energy relationship because India and the US are the two largest consumers," the strategic affairs expert elaborated.

Kapil Sharma, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's Middle East Programmes, said the next American President will have to be friendly with India as he or she will have no choice.

"I think both leaders will have to be friendly (with India). I do not think they have a choice. India, at some point in the next 20-30 years, will be the second-largest economy in the world. And that is not a country you can ignore.

"I am not worried about either leader; how they will work towards India. It is about how they handle some of the contentious issues," said Sharma, who also has experience on Capitol Hill, coming from the offices of Senator Robert Torricelli and Congressman Frank Pallone.

"But if you think about the ups and downs of the world and the geopolitics of the world over the last couple of years, the relationship did not go off track that it could have done 15-20 years ago," he said.

The noted foreign policy expert, also serving as principal in Kapstone Strategies, said he was confident that the India-US ties will flourish irrespective of who becomes President.

"I am not worried about either leader. I am confident that either administration would closely work with India," he said.

Anang Mittal, a Capitol Hill Veteran who also served as Head of Digital for Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, said Trump could be much friendlier to India than Harris.

"I think it is obvious that the India-US partnership is very strong, and it is going to survive either party coming into power," he said.

"It is obvious that Donald Trump is going to be much friendlier than the Harris administration," he added.

On the US presidential race, Mittal said it was one of the tightest fights that he had seen in decades.

"Kamala Harris seems to have closed the gaps slightly more in terms of her approval rating. Donald Trump has made a historic comeback from the political wilderness as he faced legal troubles last year," he said.

"Regardless of whether you support him or do not support him, I think Trump has made one of the biggest political comebacks since I would say Richard Nixon in terms of the political struggles that he has had in the last four years," Mittal added.

In the key battleground states, the Indian-American community is considered to be a notable force.

"Indian Americans have traditionally been voting overwhelmingly for Democrats amongst the ethnic groups," said Jaishankar.

"But there has been a sense that there may be a minor shift, particularly amongst the young male voters, many of whom are gravitating towards the Republican Party and Donald Trump," he said.

—PTI