If confirmed, Kenneth Jester will be America’s 25th ambassador in New Delhi.
More than eight months after the inauguration, the Trump administration has finally named its man who will serve as its top diplomat in New Delhi. The White House said Friday that it was nominating Kenneth Jester as the US ambassador to India. If confirmed by the US Senate, he will be the 25th US ambassador to India.
The last ambassador, Richard R. Verma, was asked to resign along with all other political nominees of the previous Obama administration prior to President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
The Washington Post had reported in June that the administration had decided to name Juster, a very well respected trade policy expert who served as a deputy assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs and deputy director of the National Economic Council. But the announcement didn’t come until Friday, when the White House named envoys to several countries, including Angola, Croatia, Germany, Switzerland and Zambia.
Even though Juster is expected to be confirmed by the Senate, it is not clear when the hearing will occur. But given the extremely dense congressional calendar, with Trump’s signature tax reforms and debt ceiling increase, among other hot button issues, on the table, it might be quite a while before the upper chamber schedules the hearing and the vote.
Juster, 62, has extensive experience in government. During the first term of President George W. Bush, he was an Under Secretary of Commerce. Prior to that, in the administration of President George H.W. Bush, he served as an acting counselor at the Department of State (1992-1993), and deputy and senior advisor to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger.
The Harvard grad, who worked closely with National Economic Council director Gary Cohn, has also a great deal of experience dealing with India, having co-chaired the U.S.-India High Technology Cooperation Group. He was also one of the American officials who worked behind the scenes for the civil nuclear agreement between the United States and India.
Juster’s private sector experience includes a seven-year stint as a partner and managing director at the Warburg Pincus, a global investment firm.
The nomination of Juster should allay concerns of New Delhi about not having an ambassador for eons. As the White House named ambassadors to countries such as China, Russia, Israel and the UK, the top envoy’s position in New Delhi remained vacant for more than eight months.
Even though the Chargé d’Affaires MaryKay Loss Carlson, a career diplomat, has been doing an excellent job, the thinking in the foreign policy circles was that Washington did not deem New Delhi important enough to send an ambassador on a priority basis.
However, the long delay in naming an ambassador is not unusual for New Delhi. During the Obama administration, there were gaps of at least five months between ambassadors.
After Obama’s inauguration, his first ambassador to India Timothy Roemer did not take charge until August 2009. After When Roemer left in June 2011, his successor Nany Powell began her stint in the Indian capital in April 2012. And between Powell and her successor, Indian American Verma, there was a gap of eight months.
Until June, when Juster emerged as the clear front-runner, there were rumors galore about the names of potential nominees being considered. Among the names being bandied about included Indian American Ashley J. Tellis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who has since been nominated as ambassador to Russia; Shalabh “Shalli” Kumar, a prominent Indian American Trump supporter and founder of the Republican Hindu Coalition; Lisa Curtis, Lisa Curtis, a senior director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council; former president and CEO of Ford Alan Mulally; and even Retire Army Gen David Petraeus.