India welcomes Donald Trump’s second term
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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Some countries have greeted Donald Trump’s election with despair. In India, the dominant feeling is hope.
Many pundits and policymakers in the world’s most populous nation view Mr. Trump’s return to the White House as an opportunity to boost U.S.-India ties. They’re optimistic about the president-elect’s rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
They appreciate Mr. Trump’s clear-eyed view of China and Pakistan, as well as the cabinet members he has nominated to implement his foreign policy. And they believe Mr.
Trump will end the war in Ukraine and repair U.S. relations with Russia. Trump 2.0 puts India “in a geopolitical sweet spot," tweeted Yusuf Unjhawala, a foreign-policy expert with Bangalore’s Takshashila Institution.
Mr. Trump’s devotees in India also believe that the incoming administration is less likely than the outgoing one to listen to left-leaning Western nongovernmental organizations and publications that are hostile to Mr. Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Some of Mr. Modi’s most prominent foreign critics—such as the financier George Soros—are also foes of Mr. Trump.
The proverb “the enemy of my enemy is my friend" puts Mr. Modi in the same bucket as Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, who are also loathed by progressives. Unlike China, Russia or Iran, India won’t be among the most pressing concerns facing the new administration.
Nonetheless, since Mr. Trump was first elected, India has become a bigger player on the world stage. In 2016, India’s $2.3 trillion economy was the world’s seventh largest at market exchange rates.
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