US official claims, Trump's America First' policy not in conflict with Make in India'
Washington: The Trump administration's 'America First' policy is not at the exclusion of the rest of the world, a senior White House official has said, ruling out any conflict it may have with the 'Make in India' initiative.
India and the US are co-hosting the three-day Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Hyderabad next week, in which 1,500 entrepreneurs from 170 countries and 350 participants from the US, a large number of whom are Indian-Americans, will take part.
US President Donald Trump's daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump, 36, will lead a high-powered American delegation of officials, women entrepreneurs and businessmen for the summit beginning November 28.
"We continue to be very engaged all over the world and having an 'America First' philosophy is not exclusive of collaboration, partnership and strong economic security and social relationships around the world," a senior administration official told reporters ahead of the next week's Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Hyderabad which is being co-hosted by India and the US.
Ahead of the summit, the official was responding to a question on potential conflict between 'Make in India' and 'America First'.
Read: India, US will continue to work for inclusive growth: Ivanka Trump before India visit
"America First is not at the exclusion of the rest of the world. Most governments prioritise the people of their country, but that does not mean that they operate in a vacuum and are not very engaged in the rest of the globe. And clearly, the US is a leader in that capacity and has remained a leader in that capacity," the official said.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to the White House, President Trump expressed the sentiment that India has a great friend and partner in the United States, and that the US would like to grow their economic and security partnership.
"This is part of that goal of creating a stronger relationship, but also going into the world and recognising the important impact that our leadership has and the importance of investing in entrepreneurship to create economic opportunity in our own country and abroad. We have seen that consistently," the official said.
According to another official, Trump himself has stated just how strong the United States-India partnership is, and clearly one of those fundamental, foundational pillars of that relationship is our economic and commercial ties.
The two-way trade between the US and India has hit a record of over USD 114 billion, and foreign direct investment stocks in both directions are about USD 40 billion.
"The president and the prime minister firmly committed to expand that bilateral trade relationship but to make sure that it was expanded in a fair, balanced and reciprocal manner to address some of the market access impediments that US firms have. We are thrilled to see that India has begun purchases of US crude. They are planning to buy US LNG and such," he said.
All the senior administration officials spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Observing that the potential of this economic partnership is really enormous, the official said many of the American companies are household names in India, and Indian companies are increasingly looking to invest in the United States.
"A natural really result of the economic and strategic partnership that the two countries have and the fact that entrepreneurship, innovation, is a hallmark of both our societies, so it was a natural fit and a natural outflow of where we are in our partnership with India," another official said.
The 'Make in India' initiative was launched by Prime Minister Modi in September 2014 with the primary goal of making India a global manufacturing hub.
US President Trump's 'America First' is a foreign policy focused on American interests and American national security. It also encourages hiring Americans.
