Washington: 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 tariffs on India “incredibly unfortunate” and advocated deeper ties with New Delhi.
In an exclusive interview with IANS, Kamlager-Dove said that “tariffs are playing a disproportionate role in how we are able to move together”.
“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,” she added.
She also criticised the silence of Republican lawmakers even as India-US relations continued to worsen.
“The Republicans are either staying silent or supporting, either way, (they are) being complicit with policies that are creating major setbacks,” she added.
Kamlager-Dove, along with her 18 Democratic House members, co-signed a letter to US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) urging him to “reset and repair” the India-US “critical partnership”.
The letter was also signed by several prominent Democratic leaders, including Deborah Ross, Ro Khanna, Brad Sherman, Raja Krishnamoorthi, and Pramila Jayapal.
The lawmakers called on Trump to “review” his tariff policy and continue “dialogue with the Indian leadership”, stressing that the path forward “demands recalibration, not confrontation”.
Kamlager-Dove said she was “disappointed” that not a single Republican lawmaker signed onto the letter, but not “surprised”.
“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,” she told IANS.
She added that now 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”.
The Congress member also revealed that she has “authored an amendment through congressional process,” demanding Trump attend the “incredibly important” Quad summit.
“Why do you have to tell a president to participate in and to attend a Quad Leadership Summit? That’s about unity with our partners across the Indo-Pacific,” she said.
The Quad Leaders’ Summit, initially scheduled to be held in India later this year, is now expected to take place early next year.
On September 10, in a speech on the floor of the House, Kamlager-Dove had targeted the Trump administration’s policy towards India, calling it “reckless”.
“This partnership is too important to be sacrificed by Trump’s ego and Republican complicity. Trump must reverse course, make a deal and fix the damage that he has caused. He needs to get his act together on behalf of this country and our relationship with India,” she stressed.
While speaking to IANS, the Congresswoman said that it was her responsibility as a ranking member of the Subcommittee on South and Central Asia to “speak up” about the region and “one of the most important relationships” with India.
“I know that one of the most important relationships we have had in the past has been with India. 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 is why I gave the speech; I continue to speak out on behalf of the US-India relationship. That’s why I signed on to the letter,” she emphasised.
Kamlager-Dove believed that India has the “brain power” to partner with the United States on critical technologies, but “arbitrary policies” like the crackdown on H-1B visas would “hurt the US.”
“We know that India has the innovation and the brain power that we’re hopeful will help us in figuring out the innovations that come with AI. We have a president who has essentially turned the H-1B visa process into an arbitrary lottery, or it’s almost like a bribe. It 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. Because they are so highly skilled and incredibly desirable,” she noted.
The Congresswoman warned that curtailing the visa program would drive Indian talent away from the US, undermining both American innovation and competitiveness.
“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,” she noted.
On September 19, US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation to significantly curtail the H-1B visa programme and imposed a hefty $100,000 visa application fee.
Kamlager-Dove also spoke about India’s improving ties with China and its relations with Russia, calling it a consequence of a hostile US stance.
“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. It pains me to say this, but I think 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. I cannot fault India for taking steps that it needs to ensure its growth,” she added.
On Trump’s attempt to regain control of the strategic Bagram airbase in Afghanistan and the recent joint opposition of India, Pakistan and China to that effort, Kamlager-Dove argued that the Trump administration is “actively continuing to isolate ourselves from partners that would normally want to work with us”.
She hoped that the US President “can see the setbacks that he is causing”.
“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 have never seen a president who is cruel to his partners and sweet to his adversaries,” she concluded.
(IANS)
