 "America alone is disastrous’: Gina Raimondo warns Trump 'making a big mistake with India'")
Former US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has criticised the current administration’s approach to international trade, warning that its policies could isolate the country from its allies and weaken its position in the global economy. Speaking at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics during a discussion with former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, Raimondo said Washington is “making a big mistake with India” by failing to strengthen trade relations with key democratic partners.
Raimondo argued that America’s leadership cannot endure if it continues down a path that alienates traditional allies and emerging partners. “America first is one thing, but America alone is disastrous,” she said, warning that isolationist tendencies are undermining decades of diplomatic and economic progress. In her view, the strength of the United States depends as much on the health of its partnerships as it does on its domestic economy.
She stressed that the US must invest more effort into maintaining productive ties with Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia, adding that these alliances form the backbone of the international order that supports American prosperity. “We cannot be effective without strong relationships in Europe and Southeast Asia,” Raimondo said. “I wish we had much stronger commercial links with Europe and a far more strategic economic partnership with India.”
Her remarks reflect growing unease among former officials and trade experts that Washington’s inward-looking trade policies are creating missed opportunities, particularly in Asia. Raimondo noted that closer economic and technology partnerships with India could serve both strategic and economic goals, helping counterbalance Chinese influence in the region.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsShe concluded by emphasising that collaboration, not confrontation, should define America’s position in the world. A United States that alienates its friends, she said, risks becoming weaker, not stronger.
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