US president-elect Donald Trump, who enjoys very good relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is expected to build on the progress made during his first term and continue strengthening ties with India, his South Asia point-person at the White House during his first term has said.
Speaking to PTI in an interview, Lisa Curtis, who served as deputy assistant to president Trump and as National Security Council senior director for South and Central Asia from 2017 to 2021, also said she expected the same bumps for India and the US, as in Trump's first term, including tariff, dependence on Russia over arms supply and oil purchase from Iran.
"I think that President (elect) Trump will pick up where he left off with India. He clearly has good feelings, goodwill toward India, and I really see this as an opportunity to just continue building the relationship and really solidifying that partnership," Curtis said.
During Trump's first term (2017-2021), there was an "elevation of the US-India relationship" because of the importance of India and its role in dealing with challenges from China, she said.
Curtis pointed out that there was also a notable mutual respect and personal connection between Trump and Prime Minister Modi.
"We could see that during the event when Prime Minister Modi addressed 50,000 Americans at the Astrodome in Houston. We saw that when President Trump addressed 100,000 Indians in a stadium in Ahmedabad. That relationship really helped cement a lot of the progress that was made," said Curtis, who is currently a Senior Fellow and Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at Center for a New American Security, a think-tank.
"Technology controls were lifted on India. India gained access to armed drone technology. Now it's buying 31 Sea Guardian predators. We saw the building up of not only the defence and security relationship, but also confidence and trust," she said, adding that the Quad was started during that period.
At the same time, there were a couple of bumps on this road during Trump's first term, she said. "There were a couple of bumps in the road, and this was mainly when President Trump would tweet about the Indian tariffs. He really wanted American companies to have more access to the Indian market. He would often, before a meeting, tweet out something. It was almost a negotiating tactic, I think, that he was doing. He did this with many countries. That did cause some irritation in the relationship. But I don't think these tweeting incidents about Indian tariffs overwhelmed the broader relationship, she said. -- PTI