Trump’s key appointees, Rubio apart, are people who can think way out of the box. India can benefit. But playing its cards right means doing speedy deals
Columnist based in Ottawa
Donald Trump has raised eyebrows in Washington with his choices for national security positions in his cabinet. Washington insiders have labelled his picks – particularly Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence and Pete Hegseth at defence – as lacking experience and not qualified. The future secretary of state Marco Rubio is the one Washington insider Trump has chosen, but his foreign policy experience is centred around hawkish positions on Cuba. Add to this Elon Musk, Trump’s unofficial and influential emissary, who by reportedly meeting with the Iranian representative at UN – which Tehran now denies – has shown that he will play a role in both domestic and foreign policy.
What Trump wants are people who think unconventionally to help shape his agenda of resolving conflicts like Ukraine, and systematically putting pressure on Beijing to change its trade policies and desist from aggression in Taiwan or the East and South China Seas. This will require cutting deals that cannot come out of the country’s national security establishment which is too conservative, hidebound and unimaginative.
Donald Trump has raised eyebrows in Washington with his choices for national security positions in his cabinet. Washington insiders have labelled his picks – particularly Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence and Pete Hegseth at defence – as lacking experience and not qualified. The future secretary of state Marco Rubio is the one Washington insider Trump has chosen, but his foreign policy experience is centred around hawkish positions on Cuba. Add to this Elon Musk, Trump’s unofficial and influential emissary, who by reportedly meeting with the Iranian representative at UN – which Tehran now denies – has shown that he will play a role in both domestic and foreign policy.
What Trump wants are people who think unconventionally to help shape his agenda of resolving conflicts like Ukraine, and systematically putting pressure on Beijing to change its trade policies and desist from aggression in Taiwan or the East and South China Seas. This will require cutting deals that cannot come out of the country’s national security establishment which is too conservative, hidebound and unimaginative.