NEW YOR/ NEW DELHI: Amid growing US-Pakistan bonhomie, external affairs minister S Jaishankar warned that a lack of understanding about India’s concerns over cross-border terrorism will affect India-US bilateral ties.Flagging issues pertaining to each other’s sensitivities, the minister said that terrorism was of particular importance to India.
“There are very few countries which have been subjected to the kind of terrorism that we have from a neighbour as part of a deliberate, conscious policy over many, many decades,” Jaishankar said, without naming Pakistan.“Now, if something which matters so deeply to us, there isn’t enough understanding or appreciation or empathy of that, I think that creates a problem too. That you know if… one of my primary concerns is not fully appreciated by my partner, then clearly there is an impact of that on the relationship,” he said, alluding to India-US ties.Jaishankar’s remarks followed US President Donald Trump’s sharing on social media a video clip of Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif’s UNGA speech where he thanked the president for his “timely intervention” to end India’s Op Sindoor. Jaishankar was speaking at the Asia Society Policy Institute where he was asked about the state of the bilateral relationship amid differences over trade and tariffs.The minister said that the trade deal both sides are finalising can improve relations, but added that the period it took to reach the understanding created bumps in the relationship.
S Jaishankar: Delay in reaching trade deal created bumps in relationship
Bear in mind, India is a society of small producers, small agriculture producers, small factories. Apart from the per capita gap between India and the US, the nature of production, nature of society is very different,” he said.
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“A trade negotiation required a certain amount of … patience and detailing to see it through… The expectation that it could rapidly move forward, I think, was tested against a ground reality which was much more complex,” added the minister.Jaishankar said that “today, we have reached a situation where there is more or less an understanding on the trade agreement”.India and the US had in Feb announced the finalisation of the framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement. However, changes in the US tariff landscape have led to further negotiations on the agreement.The two sides have since continued negotiations on their bilateral trade agreement amid the changes in the US tariff regime. Jaishankar, alluding to comments by commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, said the issue now was what had changed on the American side and how the new Section 301 process would affect the agreement. “The 301 process is still in the works, it’s still unfolding. So the issue for us is at what point do you close out an agreement which is very, very far advanced,” Jaishankar said.“But the period that it took to reach it, that did create bumps last year for the relationship. So presumably, if that agreement is closed out, that would be one point which would contribute to a better relationship,” he said.
