External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said US President Donald Trump's approach to governance and diplomacy marks a major break from tradition, noting that no previous American leader has conducted foreign policy or even domestic affairs as publicly.
"We've not had a US President who's conducted foreign policy as publicly as the current one. That itself is a departure that's not limited to India," Jaishankar said at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum 2025 in Delhi. He added, "President Trump's way of dealing with the world, even dealing with his own country, is a very major departure from the traditional orthodox manner of doing so."
The minister observed that Trump's reliance on tariffs in trade and non-trade matters was "novel," and pointed out that announcements are often first made in public before being conveyed to the concerned country. "The fact that a lot of this is said in public… often, the first pronouncement in public is even more unusual. This is a situation which the entire world is facing," he said.
What are India's challenges?
On India's challenges with the Trump administration, Jaishankar highlighted key issues. The first, he said, was trade. "There are red lines which need to be defended… the national interests of the country and the interests of farmers, small producers," he asserted.
The second, he added, relates to oil."The same arguments which are being used to target India have not been applied to the largest oil importer —China — and the largest LNG importer, which is the European Union," Jaishankar noted.
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