Modi, Trump and the art of the trade deal | ORF

India and the United States share a robust strategic partnership and cooperation in aspects pertaining to trade, security and stability in the region, the cultural link of the Indian diaspora in the United States and shared democratic values. There are of course lingering issues in any major partnership, and the Indo — US bonhomie too has hit road bumps when it comes to trade. As I wrote earlier, this is par of the course; given President Donald Trump has been vociferous, right from the campaign trail to his ascent as commander-in-chief about the ‘ art of the trade deals’.

Trump’s Trade Tirade:

Trump made trade and “bad trade deals”, the raison d’etre for his desire to seek the highest office in the land. Trump is presently following a path of ‘Jacksonian populism’ that is only reasonably concerned with foreign policy and believes overarchingly in inherent protectionism. Jacksonian populism is archaic and is juxtaposed with what Stephen Walt, a former professor of mine at the Harvard Kennedy School calls the Liberal Hegemony.

Walt, a renowned political scientist has described in his latest book, The Hell of Good Intentions, that the United States has long followed a path of liberal hegemony. That is, spreading what Washington sees as key economic and political freedoms across the globe. This laid…