Washington: Gordon Chang, a Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute, has welcomed the lowering of tensions between India and the US after Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed US President Donald Trump’s “special relationship” remark last week.
In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Chang highlighted the change in the US position.
“President Trump walked that back a little bit, and he should because we haven’t lost India to China. Remember, PM Modi, although he did go to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Tianjin, he did not go to the military parade. That was a message to China and to the world that he did not want to be part of this anti-Western group,” he said.
Chang added that India has a “point” when it says the tariffs are “unfair” as New Delhi was singled out with punitive measures, as other buyers of Russian crude were spared.
At a White House press conference on September 5, Trump said, “”I’ll always be friends with Prime Minister Modi” and called him a “great Prime Minister”.
Hours after this comment, PM Modi reciprocated on Saturday by saying that he appreciates and fully reciprocates President Trump’s sentiments.
Meanwhile, The New York Times, on Sunday, reported that the two main stock indexes in Mumbai have risen by 10 per cent in the last six months, and the imposition of US tariffs of 50 per cent doesn’t seem to have an impact yet.
The report titled, “India’s Investors, Defying Tariffs, Keep Pouring Money Into Stocks,” argues that the trend reflects the “growing confidence of India’s middle class and the development of its domestic financial sector”.
It highlighted that foreign entities’ share of stocks in the Indian markets has reduced from 24 per cent to close to 16 per cent.
The Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday that India’s domestic solar industry may be well-positioned to withstand the impact of US tariffs.
The report, “India’s solar industry, aiming to compete with China, finds strength as US tariffs hit home,” says that, “India’s domestic demand for solar power will likely reduce disruption from tariffs imposed by the US,” and “ambitious domestic clean energy targets and domestic demand will help them find buyers within India if sales in the US slow”.
It noted that “India is making huge efforts to harness the power of the sun” and the cost of solar power is now half of new coal-powered plants, and the country’s “installed solar power increased 30 times in the last decade”.
(IANS)
