Avoid making H-1B/L1 visa an agenda in talks with US: CAAPR report

Trump’s shift in rhetoric on Japan and China suggests lessons for India, it says.

President Donald Trump has made some shifts from his pre-election rhetoric; and India should monitor it for better bilateral ties with the US, the Center for Asia Africa Policy Research said in a report released on March 1.

The Hyderabad-based think tank analyzed recent incidents regarding Trump’s positions on Mexico, Japan and China, and how it changed after the New York billionaire won the presidential elections in 2016.

The Center observed: “Trump told Fox [News] in an interview prior to his inauguration, ‘I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘one China’ policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things.’” He reached out to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen upsetting Beijing. He accused China of unfair trade and fiscal policies and pledged to slap a 45 percent import tariff as it is a currency manipulator.”

However, post-election Trump took a more pragmatic approach toward China, the report authored by N.A. Prasad, the president of the Center and a former Additional Secretary to the Government of India, pointed out. “President Trump rather had a pleasant conversation with President Xi Jinping during their first official telephonic call where he re-affirmed the ‘one China’ policy,” the report read.

On Japan, the think tank noted that, as a candidate, Trump denounced Japan for “free-riding” and not paying its fair share for the American forces defending it. But, after winning the presidential election, Trump said that the US is 100 percent committed to Japan’s security.

The report said that for India to savor better ties with the US, Indian corporations should be encouraged to acquire some of American strategic hi-tech companies. This would help generate jobs in the US and provide financial returns to India.

Furthermore, businesses of the two countries should jointly work on projects in the third World countries, it recommended.

On immigration reforms, the report suggested that India should avoid making H-1B/L1 visa matters a major agenda point of its bilateral discussions.