S Jaishankar sees 'opportunity for India' in Trump's US election win

Reflecting on the impact of a Donald Trump victory for a second term in the US presidential election, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stressed that the world would be moving to a much more integrated global workplace in the next few years.

In Short

• Jaishankar says geopolitical hedging and global relationships needed for stability
• Stresses on digital trust and scrutiny to intensify
• Says talent mobility crucial for diplomatic ties amidst deglobalisation

India sees an acceleration and disruption in the re-ordering of the supply chains as an opportunity in view of the US election results, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said while reflecting on the impact of the polls which saw Donald Trump returning to the White House for a second term.

Jaishankar listed some consequences of Trump being elected as the US President, keeping in mind the business and diplomatic ties with India.

First, there was already re-ordering of the supply chains which was taking place. It is very likely that in view of the election results in the US yesterday, that this would accelerate. I'll be very candid with you, that some of this will be somewhat disruptive, but we in India perceive it as an opportunity because we have missed the manufacturing bus in the 1990s, early 2000s," Jaishankar said after meeting CEOs and business leaders in Sydney while on an official visit to Australia.

He said there "would be more geopolitical hedging, which will inevitably happen as a consequence of policies which we can safely predict - and many more of us would be seeking more relationships (globally) to keep life stable".

Jaishankar stressed that the world would be moving to a much more integrated global workplace in the next few years. "Even a US under Donald Trump will make a distinction in immigration and mobility for them. An economically-justified mobility will have to be fostered by those countries," he said.

"The third pertains to the digital side and what has happened and will continue to happen. What has been happening and will continue to intensify is about trust, and what accompanies the digital aspect of a product or service or technology will come under greater scrutiny," Jaishankar said.

"Digital payment platforms, for example, would become, in a sense, much more valuable, and which platform to use and share with whom, becomes an important question," he further said.

He said the fourth element of a Trump win was the mobility of talent and skills.

"Even as there is a deglobalisation or reworking of current architecture, apart from technological charges, I think the demographic unevenness of the world is beginning to bite us so that there would be economies where the demand would be high. In those countries, the talents may not be plentiful," the foreign minister said.

Jaishankar stressed that the Trump administration can make a distinction between immigration and mobility.

"There will be economies where the demand will be high, the talents may not be plentiful and may be different in other places. So, how do you create and manage and optimise a global workplace? The global workplace doesn't mean that the talent alone has to move. Businesses can move as well," he said.

He said that there were around 1,800 global capability centres in India which generated about USD 150 billion worth of experts.

(with inputs from ANI)