US President Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to India on Thursday pushed back on fears that New Delhi was drifting towards China, pledging to draw India closer to the US, open its markets to American goods and end Russian oil purchases, while telling senators that India and China had little in common and were unlikely to forge closer ties.
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“While we might have our moments of hiccups right now, we are on the track of resolving that. Our relationship with the Indian government … is much warmer,” said Sergio Gor, a close Trump aide who heads the White House Presidential Personnel Office.
“Should I be confirmed, I will make it a top priority to ensure that they’re pulled in our direction, not away from us,” he added at his Senate confirmation hearing, sharing that he will deepen ties on defence and technology cooperation.
“I will prioritise deepening defence and security cooperation with India. This includes expanding joint military exercises, advancing co-development and co-production of defence systems and concluding critical defence sales,” Gor said.
Gor was grilled on how he would prevent India from sliding towards Beijing amid Trump’s tariffs and tough trade rhetoric, which have strained ties with a key Indo-Pacific partner.
“The price of retreat,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democratic ranking member of the chamber’s Foreign Relations Committee, referring to President Xi Jinping’s pictures with India’s Narendra Modi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Summit earlier this month.