India says it is willing to cooperate with the US on immigration and trade and wants a deeper partnership
According to Jaiswal, India has taken a proactive stance in resolving disputes, and New Delhi maintains regular contact with the United States.
According to Jaiswal, India has taken a proactive stance in resolving disputes, and New Delhi maintains regular contact with the United States. Declaring that both sides are eager to establish a "bolder, bigger, and more ambitious" partnership, India on Friday indicated its openness to collaborate with the Donald Trump administration in the US on all issues about trade and illegal immigration.While the foundations of the bilateral relationship remain strong and trade in goods and services surged to $190 billion in 2023, Trump has since announced plans to impose "100% tariffs" on the Brics bloc, which includes India, and has issued executive orders and proclamations to launch a broad crackdown on illegal immigrants. In response to multiple questions on these issues during a regular media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that India and the US have an ongoing dialogue on matters related to both trade and immigration that can handle all eventualities.Speaking to the media following his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stated that India is committed to establishing "bolder, bigger, and more ambitious" ties with the US. Within the robust and complex India-US relationship, commerce holds a distinct position. According to Jaiswal, the two countries achieved a "record level of trade in goods and services worth $190 billion" in 2023 . Through established channels, the two parties also have ongoing discussions about issues pertaining to commerce."We have always taken a constructive approach to problems, which is in both countries' best interests. We stay in close contact with the US administration and would like to keep working to further strengthen our economic partnership," he stated."We will discuss any trade concerns that may arise with the freshly appointed US government. We aim to increase commerce to record levels and grow it even more," Jaiswal continued. Trump, who has previously referred to China and India as the "tariff king," has mentioned the prospect of enacting retaliatory tariffs on these countries even before his election triumph. As part of a move away from the US dollar, he has also denounced attempts by Brics members—mainly China and Russia—to promote increased trade settlement in their currencies. In response to Trump's warnings on this point in the past, Jaishankar has stated that India "has never been for de-dollarization" and that different Brics countries have different opinions.With almost 18% of India's exports, the US was the nation's top trading partner in 2023–2024. Additionally, India and the US have a positive trade balance, so any tariffs imposed by the Trump administration would have an adverse effect on exports. Jaiswal said that New Delhi would repatriate all Indians who have overstayed in the US or any other nation or are present without the required paperwork, adding that India opposes illegal immigration due to its connections to various types of organized crime."As long as they provide us with documents proving their nationality and that they are, in fact, Indians," he said, "we will take them back."
