India-US partnership to grow regardless of who wins elections: USISPF CEOi

The India-US relationship would continue its upward trajectory regardless of who wins the presidential elections, USISPF president and CEO Mukesh Aghi said, underlining that the contest between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump was "too close to call".

The geopolitical alignment between the two countries is very strong, Aghi said in an interview with PTI on Thursday.

"What are the implications, regardless of who comes in? I think India stays critical to US geopolitical ambitions. That is trying to contain the rise of aggressive China. It also serves India's interest. That it has a partner to deal with a neighbour who will never accept India as an equal partner.

"The alignment geopolitically is very, very strong between the two countries. So, regardless of who comes in, either Trump or Kamala Harris, the partnership will continue to go in that direction," he said.

The US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) chief said the elections are "very, very close" at the moment. Even though the momentum has "shifted in favour of" Harris, "it is too close to call, especially when you have an electoral college and we expect around 40,000 votes to make a difference among the swing states itself".

Amidst tension between the US and China, the American corporate sector is looking at de-risking that supply chain, Aghi said.

"Yes, you have countries like Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand providing but nothing can provide the scale India can provide. So, India becomes critical in the de-risking of the supply chain. But more importantly, India also becomes a market for a lot of these companies," he said.

"Then you have what we call the Indian-American diaspora here, which is roughly 1 per cent of the population, producing almost 6 per cent of the GDP. They will play a very pivotal role between the two countries. So, regardless of who comes in, the relationship will continue to grow deeper, broader and much more robust," Aghi said.

The foreign policy and the India-US relationship would definitely have an impact on the leadership of Trump and Harris, he noted.

"You have to understand the style. Trump's is a very transactional style, whereas Biden and Kamala Harris have been very structural," he added.

"While Biden and Harris have been able to build a coalition of partners to help them take this relationship forward, Trump has focused on transactions. What we see is the transaction(al) approach will continue under Trump. There's a strong relationship between Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and (former) president Trump," Aghi said.

The USISPF chief also applauded the role played by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in driving the India-US relationship.

"You have a prime minister who was refused visa to the United States. But I think he kept his personal affront aside and looked to the broader interests of India.

"He felt that the United States is critical to the economic growth. The United States is critical for investment. The United States is critical for technology transfer. And he focused on building those relationships, worked very hard with President (Barack) Obama, and then worked with Trump and then with Biden," Aghi said.

"I believe that the process will continue when he comes to New York for the UNGA week later this month," he said.