Ready For President Trump?

US’s European and Asian allies have solid concerns, but for India, a Trump presidency can hold many benefits.

- Pranay Sharma

ALT Right Delete. The phrase has been buzzing around bemused social media handles for a couple of days now. One barometer of how disruptive the Donald J. Trump victory in the US election has been lies way beyond its shores. World capitals had been, by and large, preparing for another spell of a Democrat presidency—their horizon of expectation was painted around a degree of continuity in American foreign policy. The arrival on stage of a classic ‘outsider’ figure—a man whose stance was either inward-looking or unpredictable—comes as a black swan event.

World leaders can be expected to go into a huddle with their advisors in their respective capitals. But the first noises were one of candid disquiet. “looks like this will be the year of the double disaster of the West,” was how former Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt worded it. Alluding to Trump’s victory and Brexit in June, he tweeted, “Fasten seat belts”.

The element of disquiet was not surprising. During his campaign, Trump’s many outrageous statements made him a totem of fear—or the butt of jokes—in America and elsewhere. None of the statements of intent were fleshed out, but now that he is president-elect, everyone is revisiting his remarks to parse them for any reliable sign of how things may move. His promises were legion: denying entry of Muslims into the US; building a wall along the Mexican border to keep illegal immigrants out; bringing back jobs from China and India; renegotiating America’s trade deals, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); withdrawing from WTO; putting up tariff barriers to counter cheap Chinese goods flooding US markets; reducing America’s overseas military role and forcing its NATO and Asian allies to pay for their own security.