Trump unveils ‘America First National Strategy’ with ‘leadership role for India’

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NEW YORK – Unveiling his “America First National Strategy,” U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that Washington will support a “leadership role” for India in the “broader” Indo-Pacific region.

Trump’s all-encompassing strategy plan looks for allies to face what he sees as “an extraordinarily dangerous world, filled with a wide range of threats”.

Against this scenario, he declared: “We will deepen our strategic partnership with India and support its leadership role in Indian Ocean security and throughout the broader region.”

Turning to Islamabad, Trump said, “We will press Pakistan to intensify its counterterrorism efforts, since no partnership can survive a country’s support for militants and terrorists who target a partner’s own service members and officials. The United States will also encourage Pakistan to continue demonstrating that it is a responsible steward of its nuclear assets.”

A significant part of his strategic document that he was scheduled to present in Washington was devoted to threats from China which he framed as “a geopolitical competition between free and repressive visions of world order is taking place in the Indo-Pacific region”.

“China is using economic inducements and penalties, influence operations, and implied military threats to persuade other states to heed its political and security agenda,” he said.

In this theatre, he said: “We welcome India’s emergence as a leading global power and stronger strategic and defense partner. We will seek to increase quadrilateral cooperation with Japan, Australia, and India.”

While Trump has set out an American strategy along these lines in recent months, these declarations of India’s role and ties with it were reiterated in a global context with his strategic plan.