America First policies emphasise local production, reducing reliance on imports and imposing tariffs on foreign goods. Trump fired a warning shot at India recently. “If they tax us, we tax them the same amount… The word reciprocal is important because if somebody charges us… if India charges us 100%, do we charge them nothing for the same?”
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But his focus on China could be indirectly advantageous to India, as it could emerge as an alternative for companies seeking to diversify supply cha ins. India is learnt to be exploring options on reducing tariffs on some US items. Also, the proposed FTA that was discussed when Trump visited India in 2020 could be revived.
Foreign minister S Jaishankar recently affirmed India could build deeper ties with the Trump administration and take forward bilateral ties. Like many other countries, India may also have some issues and it will deal with them, he had said. Some countries regard Trump 2.0 as a political challenge but not India, he said.
“We'll have to work out a political equation with America and that is one area where we score because we've always had a positive political relationship with Trump. I would say Trump has always had a positive political view of India,” Jaishankar had said.
India is hoping that Trump will seek an early end to conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia. That will be to India’s