USISPF President Mukesh Aghi said India and the US are interdependent partners, stressing that recent tariff tensions shouldn’t derail decades of progress. Reacting to Trump aide Peter Navarro’s casteist remarks, Aghi urged India to ignore the noise and focus on strengthening ties. He assured US investors remain bullish on India.
00:00Indians are buying oil from Brahmins makes no sense and I would say that we
00:05should learn to ignore these things. Why is the president tweeting? There are
00:09multiple stories you know one is that he wants to win a Nobel Prize. What is
00:14disappointing is that the last 25 years from Clinton onward they've worked on
00:21building the relationship and it seems to basically go down the drain in 25
00:26hours. Now you do have certain amount of rhetoric coming out of the White House
00:31especially people like Peter Navarro and I think that's more from ignorance about
00:36India when you call Indians are buying oil from Brahmins makes no sense and I would
00:43say that we should learn to ignore these things and continue which is a bigger
00:47relationship between the two countries and I think maintain that momentum. On
00:53Monday US President Donald Trump doubled down on his criticism on India calling
00:58trade ties with the country a totally one-sided disaster and he also claimed
01:03that India has offered to cut its tariffs to zero. They were only the claims. How do you
01:08look at such comments sir? Well you have to understand there are comments which the
01:13president makes and you have to take it with a certain weightage to that itself or
01:21non-weightage to that. I think it's important to understand that when you have
01:25certain truth social or tweet coming out some may have substance others may not
01:31have substance. I think people in India are mature they understand as a proud
01:37nation a sovereign nation and I think it has to do what it has to do what is good
01:42for the citizen and what is good for the country. Sir you are here in Delhi what have
01:48you heard or what feedback have you heard from even in Washington DC from the CEOs that you
01:53meet when it comes to economic relationship between the two countries because the
01:57Indian exports are facing problems and is it also are the American exporters also facing
02:03the heat? Now obviously you have to understand that it's not just only Indian
02:08exports think about companies which have set up their manufacturing here and the
02:13components they're building in India are part of the overall supply chain so when
02:19those components come to the US they are facing 50% duty and that does not make it
02:24competitive so the both sides are suffering for this unreasonable secondary
02:30tariff put on India but overall the sentiment in India as in the US among the CEOs
02:36and I've talked to almost 60 70 CEOs last three weeks is very positive they are not
02:41slowing down the investment in India they're not slowing down the process of
02:45building supply chain in India so I think from that perspective the confidence the
02:50trust and the faith in India continues among the US CEOs. Sir I want to know your view and
02:56understand the factors on why do you think Trump is damaging the relationship it is
03:00because India is not budging to the tariffs to and because like or is he not getting a
03:07room for his claims on getting a ceasefire between India and Pakistan what factors do you
03:11think is behind this? Well you have to understand that number one is India has not reacted in any
03:20negative manner on some of the true social tweets coming out of the President. I think India has maintained
03:27including the Prime Minister a sense of dignity a sense of basically focus on
03:34what's good for India and not made any comments on the streets itself. Why is the
03:39President tweeting? There are multiple stories you know one is that he wants to
03:42win a Nobel Prize the other is basically the advice he's getting is incorrect but I
03:48think what is disappointing is that the last 25 years from Clinton onward they've worked on building the
03:57relationship and it seems to basically go down the drain in 25 hours and I think it is important
04:04that we stay committed because US needs India India needs US from that perspective from a geopolitical
04:12perspective economic perspective we have five and a half million Indian Americans in the US so
04:17people-to-people perspective also so I think the relationship is strong it will continue yes you
04:24have certain tweets coming which are damaging and I think the secondary tariffs are uncalled for.
04:30I think we have to make every effort to see how we can take them out.
04:34Sir Prime Minister Modi was in Tianjin yesterday he met with President Xi it was his first visit in seven years. How do you see India-China relationship moving forward?
04:45Well you have seen historically China has bigger ambitions. Its ambitions are basically do not tie with India's ambition. So China will always treat India not as an equal partner and you have to understand that India's exports to China are roughly 15 billion dollars and it has a trade deficit of almost 100 billion dollars with China. Whereas with the US market India has basically a surplus of
05:15the US itself. The people-to-people relations the value systems are the same itself. So yes there is an aberration relationship with US but I don't see long-term relationship going to the same level with China as it is with the US.
05:32And what about in the Russia relationship you also had a bilateral with Russian President Putin and after that we have heard from Donald Trump and from Navarro like saying like India is getting in bed with authoritarians like Russia and China. So how do you see India-Russia relationship moving forward?
05:48Well India has to do what's good for India. India does not dictate other countries is democratic or authoritarian. Russia historically has been a friend of India and it has stood by India and so if India has to meet with them, deal with them, partner with them, that's India's right. So I think other countries should not dictate India as to what it needs to be done.
06:13So from that perspective I think Prime Minister meeting with Putin was an appropriate meeting from every aspect.
06:20And there were also talks of getting an overhaul on H-1B visas which might affect Indian workers as well. How do you see that?
06:28I think H-1B, when you look at it, almost 70% of the H-1B goes to Indians itself. But most of them are sponsored by US companies, companies such as Google, Microsoft, Meta and others.
06:45You have to understand that they are in a lottery based system. So that means the Indians who go there, they get an average salary of $66,000 on the H-1B.
06:57And when you look at it from a broader perspective, the median income in the US is around $75,000. The reform is going to focus more on the capability, qualification and the compensation.
07:16And between the two, you get point system and then you qualify for H-1B. So I think it works in favour of Indians who are looking at leveraging H-1B that they will get higher salaries and more qualified people will be able to get access rather than just waiting to the lottery system where qualified people will not be able to make it.
07:37So just last question. We have also heard some optimistic comments like from Nikki Haley, John Bolton and even Besant who have said that India and Washington DC can have a relationship that can be moving forward. How do you see these optimistic comments especially when at a time the relationship is getting strained?
08:00Well, I would say that the relationship is not getting strained. When you look at people to people, look at the business community, look at the legislative side, they are all very optimistic. Yes, you have people like Jake Sullivan, Nikki Haley, John Bolton talking. But when you go down, more and more people are talking as to why this relationship is going through these challenges on secondary tariff.
08:26I think it is important. I think for us to come back to track, the secondary tariff has to be taken out so at least India and the US can work together because this is impacting millions of workers here in India itself and it is impacting businesses in the US.
08:43So it is more disruptive for both sides than being constructive for any side itself. So I think from that perspective, hopefully common sense will prevail and you will see a better relationship moving forward.
Be the first to comment