India’s economic strength to sustain global leadership; Trump policies drive US partners away, says lawmaker

Washington: India’s economic strength will sustain its global leadership, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said, warning that President Donald Trump’s policies were pushing US partners to look elsewhere and weakening Washington’s influence.

Speaking to IANS as India hosted the BRICS summit in New Delhi, Krishnamoorthi said the country’s hosting of another large gathering of world leaders was unsurprising. What concerned him was how American policies were bringing Washington’s friends and adversaries closer together.

“The question is where is America going?” he asked.

Krishnamoorthi said India would continue to be a world leader because of its economic size and growth. He questioned whether the United States was showing leadership on climate change, economic development and stability in global trade.

“We are right now AWOL,” he said.

He blamed Trump’s trade, economic and foreign policies for encouraging countries such as India, Egypt and Brazil to engage with Russia, China and Iran. Countries across Europe and Asia, as well as Canada, were looking elsewhere, he said.

“And that is a very dangerous long-term trend for America.”

Asked whether recent international gatherings indicated a shift in the global order, Krishnamoorthi stopped short of describing a permanent realignment.

“I don’t think there’s necessarily a fundamental realignment, although there is drift that is occurring with regard to our friends, partners, and allies.”

“They are eagerly waiting for America to reassert its leadership with regard to any number of issues, which I talked about before.”

In a separate interview with IANS, Cornell University scholar Allen Carlson said India’s international profile had risen over the past 10 to 20 years. He attributed part of that rise to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s more muscular approach to foreign policy.

Hosting and chairing the BRICS summit illustrated India’s growing stature, said Carlson, an associate professor of government and an expert on Chinese foreign policy.

But he cautioned that China continued to carry greater weight within the grouping because of its larger economy and military capabilities.

Carlson said growing economic and military strength in Asia was offsetting American influence. China and, to a lesser extent, India were offering alternatives to Washington in Africa and South America, he said.

In a statement issued by Cornell on Sept 11, he described the implications for Washington in stronger terms.

“BRICS is no longer an incipient power bloc but the core of the emerging international order, with China at its center. The implications for the US are profound.”

In the interview, Carlson said BRICS was seeking to deepen institutions and cooperation that could offer an alternative to the US-led international order. He cautioned, however, that the world had not changed overnight and that the participating powers faced their own domestic challenges.

Krishnamoorthi said he wanted Washington to work with India and other partners to address what he described as Chinese economic, technological and military aggression. He argued that Trump’s handling of foreign economic and trade policy had weakened America’s ability to bring countries together around shared goals.

The expanded BRICS gathering in New Delhi had an agenda covering conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, trade, energy security and global governance, according to Cornell’s statement.

India and China’s unresolved territorial dispute remains a longstanding constraint on bilateral ties. Carlson also identified Tibet and India’s relationship with the Tibetan government in exile as issues underlying efforts to strengthen cooperation.

IANS