Former US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, a likely 2028 Democratic presidential nominee, has criticized the Donald Trump administration over its treatment of India, saying Washington “literally spit in their faces”.
Rahm Emanuel, who served in various positions under the administrations of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, said bringing India closer to the US has been a 30-year project under Democratic and Republican administrations.
“America has literally spit in India’s face under the Trump administration,” Rahm Emanuel said at an event held at Harvard Kennedy School. “Bringing India closer to the United States has been a 30-year project for every American president. I will not do what Trump did.”
Who is Rahm Emanuel?
Few know Washington as well as 66-year-old Emanuel, who was a congressman from Illinois who helped Democrats score landslide victories in the 2006 midterm elections. This is an election year that some in the party are looking to for inspiration as they try to regain control of Congress in the midterm elections later this year.
Emanuel became White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama before being elected to two terms as mayor of Chicago. He was the US Ambassador to Japan under President Joe Biden.
Now Emanuel is considering a run for the White House in 2028. In the early stages of that contest, several Democratic governors, including Gavin Newsom of California and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, have received the most attention. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear made an aggressive move of his own last week when he traveled to Vice President J.D. Vance’s district in Ohio to deliver a scathing critique of the man who could become a leading contender for the next Republican presidential nomination.
Indo-US relations in the era of Donald Trump
India’s relationship with the United States has been tense since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January last year. The mercurial Republican imposed punitive tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil, something he was fine with since his war with Iran sent crude oil prices soaring around the world.
India and the United States are still negotiating a trade agreement that seems to go nowhere. He has also criticized and sought the abolition of the H-1B visa, a route used by most skilled Indian workers in the US.
Trump also sought credit for ending India’s conflict with Pakistan after Operation Sindoor last year, another claim that New Delhi has repeatedly denied. Under the current administration, the United States has become closer to Pakistan, with Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, earning praise from Trump and the Republican receiving the Nobel Peace Prize from Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
