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External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar said the relationship with the United States is extremely important to India, regardless of who is the president of the country. The remarks from the Indian diplomat came in an interview with European news outlet Euractiv when he was asked about whether “India trusts US President Donald Trump”.
“I take the world as I find it. Our aim is to advance every relationship that serves our interests, and the US relationship is of immense importance to us. It’s not about personality X or president Y,” Jaishankar told the European news outlet.
The conversation took place during Jaishankar's visit to Belgium’s capital, Brussels, where he held talks with the leaders of the European Union. On Tuesday, he met EU Chief Ursula von der Leyen and EU Foreign Policy Minister Kaja Kallas as India and the EU negotiated the highly anticipated Free Trade Agreement.
Where India stands in the geopolitical order
When asked where India sees itself in the geopolitical order, Jaishankar emphasised how the world is becoming more multipolar. “Multipolarity is already here. Europe now faces the need to make more decisions in its own interest – using its own capabilities, and based on the relationships it fosters globally,” the Indian external affairs minister told Euractiv.
“I hear terms like ‘strategic autonomy’ being used in Europe – these were once part of our vocabulary. The EU plays a major role in the global order and is increasingly an autonomous one. That is precisely why I’m here: to deepen our relationship in this multipolar world," he added.
During the interview, Jaishankar admitted that Europe is becoming far more realistic lately. However, he maintained that India continues to have “deep reservations” about the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which is the tax that the EU imposes on products from jurisdictions where climate policies are not robust.
“The idea that one part of the world will set standards for everybody else is something which we are against. We have very deep reservations about CBAM, and we’ve been quite open about it," the EAM explained. Jaishankar went on to reiterate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of signing an India-EU FTA by the end of the year.
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