Washington, Oct
Sydney Kamlager-Dove, the Democratic Congresswoman from California and the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on South and Central Asia, has termed the Trump administration’s India policy “incredibly unfortunate” and advocated deeper ties with New Delhi.
In an exclusive interview with IANS, Kamlager-Dove spoke about the silence of Republican lawmakers on India-US relations, the importance of bilateral engagement for US national interests and the recent H-1B visa crackdown.
Below are the excerpts from the interview.
IANS: As many as 19 Democratic lawmakers, including you, signed a letter to President Trump on Wednesday, urging him to reset ties with India. What prompted this letter, and are you surprised no Republican leaders signed on?
Kamlager-Dove: I think as ranking member of the South and Central Asia Subcommittee, it was incredibly important for my name to be on that letter, really reminding the President and this administration how important the US-India relationship is, and to underscore the impacts that these tariffs have had on our ability to progress our relationship.
I think it's had an impact on Bills that are coming before the Indian government that we've been interested in, just like it's stalling the Quad leadership summit meetings, which I think are incredibly important. I've also authored an amendment through our congressional process, demanding that President Donald Trump attend those meetings.
The tariffs are playing a disproportionate role in how we're able to move together. And I think that's incredibly unfortunate, mostly because there was so much work that happened under the Biden administration to really move this bilateral relationship along in a positive way.
President Donald Trump was really handed a really good thing on a silver platter, and instead, he has chosen erratic, xenophobic, arbitrary, punitive measures and policies that are scaring our allies, and I've never seen a President who is cruel to his partners and sweet to his adversaries.
I'm disappointed that there are no Republicans on this letter, but I'm not surprised as Republicans in Congress are afraid to speak truth to Trump. And where were those voices during the Biden administration, when Republicans were also lauding the importance of the US-India relationship and asking us to do more. So here we are.
But I think it means that Democrats have an outsized responsibility to remind the American people and also our international audiences that we in fact are the ones that care deeply about international relationships and how to move the ball forward and how to put in place policies that are supportive, that are strategic, that are thoughtful and that are stimulating, unlike what you're seeing coming from this administration.
IANS: In the last 25 years, the U.S. and India have built a strong, bipartisan partnership, especially under the Biden administration. Would you say the current shift reflects Trump’s personal policy rather than an official U.S. stance?
Kamlager-Dove: I am not going to co-sign any of the policies that are coming out of this administration right now. We have a President who has essentially turned the H-1B visa process into an arbitrary lottery, or it's almost like a bribe.
$100,000 will get you an H-1B visa, rather than having substantive conversations about how you can reform the H-1B process. That policy that he's put in place is going to do nothing but hurt the United States, which is continuing to try to be competitive and still needs international, global talent to help us do so. So, how are we going to attract the innovators around the world when we have in place this new policy that says $100,000 will get you an H-1B visa? It makes no sense, and I don't support that.
Why do you have to tell a President to participate in and attend a Quad Leadership Summit? That's about unity with our partners across the Indo-Pacific. So why would you have to ask a President to acknowledge how important those relationships are? Why do you have a President who is putting forth arbitrary tariffs on countries and hasn't even articulated the reasoning for the tariffs, has a cooling effect on US jobs and manufacturing and our ability to move forward.
The only party that's criticising all of these policies are the Democrats. The Republicans are either staying silent or supporting, or being complicit with policies that are creating major setbacks.
IANS: You’ve long advocated for a strong U.S.-India relationship. In your September 8 House speech, you said President Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on India because his “fragile ego was triggered.” Could you elaborate on why you think he took such an anti-India stance?
Kamlager-Dove: I certainly cannot speak on what's in the President's mind.
I know that one of the most important relationships we have had in the past has been with India. I represent the 37th congressional district. It is an incredibly vibrant and diverse community. And we in Los Angeles County have one of the largest Indian American communities in the country.
So, I feel I have an obligation to talk about the strategic power coming from the region, and also the strategic possibilities that can continue with a strong bilateral relationship with India. So that's why I gave the speech, that's why I continue to speak out on behalf of the US-India relationship. That's why I signed on to the letter. That's why I offered the amendment about the Quad Leadership Summit. That's why I also raised these concerns in a meeting we had with ambassadors from the Quad countries, and called out what Donald Trump was doing, specifically to India.
I don't know why he's doing this. I hope he can see the setbacks that he is causing. I know India is hosting an AI summit in February. The United States should be at the table. It should be part of the conversation. Because we know that India has the innovation and the brain power that we are hopeful will help us figure out the innovations that come with AI.
I don't understand why a President would want to derail those kinds of opportunities. And I'll also say I think it's had an impact. I know that the United States has been interested in the civil nuclear liability law that's been sort of moving in the Indian Parliament, and that I believe has stalled, probably because of the actions that are coming from the White House.
IANS: What are the implications of a hostile India policy for US interests, especially in South Asia and the larger Indo-Pacific region?
Kamlager-Dove: When I became South and Central Asia Subcommittee ranker, I had a really good conversation with our former Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti. He was talking to me about the country and the different regions, and all of the wonderful possibilities. And so, we talked about the western region, tech, manufacturing, Bollywood, and Defence technologies. We talked about being an anchor in the region. We talked about triangulating or sort of monitoring China, and how important it is to have allies in that fight.
That's a lot on the table for us to be leaving behind because of many of these arbitrary policies as it relates to the H-1B visas, and this $100,000 arbitrary tax, it's going to disproportionately impact the Indian community, who I think make up 70 per cent of all H-1B visa recipients.
Because they are so highly skilled and incredibly desirable. So that means that we could see fewer folks coming here to help us in the areas of medicine, entertainment and business. Those industries are incredibly important to my district, but also to the country, and we need to have more voices talking about this and actually calling out the xenophobia that I think is contributing to policies like this and get us back on the right track.
IANS: Congresswoman Deborah Ross recently in an interview with IANS, noted that Prime Minister Modi’s meeting with Presidents Xi Jinping and Putin at the SCO Summit in China signalled that India has options. Some experts say India’s measured response to President Trump’s criticism reflects strategic maturity. How do you view India’s approach, both in engaging Russia and China, and in its handling of the US during this period?
Kamlager-Dove: I think it exemplifies what happens when you are soft on your adversaries and cruel to your partners.
I cannot get upset with India for taking steps to remind the United States what we could lose. India has a responsibility to its own people to make sure that it remains resilient, and sometimes that means going to other places that may not be our friends and creating relationships. Now, I think we have the power to forge a much deeper, more authentic and lasting relationship than China or Russia, which tend to be incredibly transactional. But I cannot fault India for taking steps that it needs to ensure its growth.
Relationships need constant attention. I'm concerned that this cooling of the bilateral relationship between US and India could calcify, and that would be detrimental to everyone and to the region. So, I think we have an obligation to tell our leader to continue talks with your leader.
IANS: India joined China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Russia recently in opposing President Trump’s push to retake the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. What’s your reaction?
Kamlager-Dove: It's interesting that a President who espouses such an isolationist foreign policy is also engaged in encroachment. It's so curious, but it's equally curious that all of those countries have forged together, unified to push back.
As a result of the posture coming from President Donald Trump, we are actively continuing to isolate ourselves from partners that would normally be wanting to work with us.
IANS: Under the Biden administration, India was a centrepiece to the US Indo-Pacific strategy and was seen as a counterweight to China. Do you think the Trump administration’s inconsistent China policy has contributed to its strained ties with New Delhi?
Kamlager-Dove: In many of the congressional hearings that I participate in, Republicans have a talking point that we have to fight China. China is bad. We are letting China have the upper hand. So, they do like to say that.
But we have not had any congressional hearings on issues where we can be talking about substantive policy issues that would actually show our pushback to Chinese aggression against our partners, and in regions where we have historically had a footprint.
So, there have been actually so many ways that we could have shown our strength and push back against China, and Republicans have been silent. This Trump administration has dismantled a lot of the guardrails that we have had in place and then refused to properly fund or resource them. So, when I hear Republicans talk about the United States needs to be tough on China, those are red herring statements. Those are empty calories.
