S Jaishankar on PM Modi's meeting with Trump: Nationalists respect each other

India Today

Opening up on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington D.C., External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the two leaders understood each other's concerns quite well as they are both "nationalists."    Speaking at a Delhi University literature festival, Jaishankar said the "chemistry was good" between the two leaders and observed that, unlike other foreign leaders, Trump shared a "positive history" with PM Modi.    "I would say with all objectivity, I thought it went very well and for a variety of reasons. PM Narendra Modi is a very strong nationalist, and he sort of radiates that. Now, Trump is an American nationalist, and I think, in many ways, Nationalists kind of respect each other. Trump accepts that Modi is in it for India. Modi accepts that Trump is in it for America," said Jaishankar.

Transcript

00:00The Prime Minister was, as all of you know, in the US and Washington on the 12th and 13th

00:06of this year and he was among the earliest world leaders to be invited by President Trump

00:13in his second term to meet with him.

00:20I've been doing this all my life so I have some reference points and some experiences

00:26as a comparative assessment and I would say with all objectivity I thought it went very

00:32well and for a variety of reasons.

00:39All of us know that Narendra Modi is a very strong nationalist and he sort of radiates

00:48that.

00:49Now Trump is an American nationalist and I think in many ways nationalists kind of respect

00:58each other.

00:59They have a very clear eye, they are in it for their country.

01:08Trump accepts that Modi is in it for India, Modi accepts that Trump is in it for America

01:15but the task, the purpose of the meeting is to say, okay, how do we find something

01:22which works?

01:23What is a common ground?

01:24What is it we can do together which makes both of us strong?

01:29The second I felt was the chemistry of those two because again, you know, Trump being somewhat

01:38unusual.

01:39There are a lot of other leaders in the world with whom he has not necessarily a positive

01:47history.

01:48In the case of Modi ji, it's not the case.

01:49I mean, he had a great visit.

01:50He remembered, I mean, it was a very interesting, you could say, psychological insight, you

01:59know.

02:00We walked into the Oval Office.

02:02He had a table like this, little bit bigger and he had a book.

02:08It was like a picture book of his first term.

02:13Now, I was later told that after his term finished, he himself selected those pictures

02:21which was like his memory of his time.

02:28By the maximum number of pictures read about him.

02:32Is it?

02:33In that.

02:34And when our Prime Minister came, he actually lent the prospect of this book and he said,

02:40I want to show you a picture.

02:42And it was the two of them in the Motera Stadium in Gujarat, you know, where we did Namaste

02:50Trump event.

02:52So, clearly, he had a very good kind of memory and feelings about that earlier term.

03:02Now, this meeting, of course, I mean, some of it was about that period.

03:08But a lot of it was about, OK, what do we do?

03:11How do we go forward?

03:12Trump, President Trump appears to have a vision of what America's interests are, what he wants

03:19from the world, what he wants from the relationship with us.

03:22We have the same.

03:23I mean, we do have demands of America.

03:26We do have opportunities with America.

03:29So, I think there was a, you know, a very open discussion about all of this.

03:35And I must say, it was conducted with a lot of good humor, geniality, cordiality.

03:42Which was very visible, by the way.

03:44Yes.

03:45Yes.

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