India and the US agree that borders should be sacrosanct, says Eric Garcetti

What is the most important part of US-India relationship and the concerns?

I would say its trust and ambition, because it's clear that we have friendship. It's clear that we now have a record of cooperation. I think there's no place trust can't take us. And we have to be more ambitious, because the challenge of the moment—from climate change to diversifying supply chain, health pandemics to artificial intelligence demands that we be more ambitious, and I'm confident that we will be.

US and India are highly ambitious populations. We always have been. We're entrepreneurial, we're researchers, we're students, we work hard, we're diverse, we're democratic. Sometimes we get caught up in the narcissism of small differences as psychologist Freud once said. But if you look at us, we overlap mostly in about 80% of things, and that's rare for two countries, let alone two big countries our size. So, I think in broad terms, that's the most important thing, and especially in the areas of technology and trade, and defense and people-to-people ties. Those are the four pillars—peace, prosperity, planet, and people—and these can define the future not just for India and the US, but I think for the world.

I think the concern would be that we clickbait comments on social media. You know, we're too big populations not to find somebody who says, oh, that's the end of U.S.-India relations. Or, gosh, can you believe they think differently? Or somebody who says something offensive. If you look at our population, 80% of Indians have positive views towards Americans. That's higher than Americans' views about themselves. And one in four Americans is being treated by an Indian doctor. Now, sometimes in areas you can't find an American born doctor. It is the Indian doing the work of that immigrant's dream of my family and the other families in America that came before. I think Americans don't know India enough. So, we need to educate more Americans. Bring more Americans here as students, as visitors. Because Indians know Americans quite well. But those aren't worries. Those are just challenges, that I think we will meet.

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Given the latest US sanctions on Russia and India being an energy dependent economy, how do we traverse this?

And we're very sensitive. One of the things we have heard it loud and clear was “don't surprise us". So, we've been talking about this for a series of weeks and months, and we've created a time to make the adjustment and prepared other assets. So Middle Eastern oil, North American oil, that can replace the Russian oil that's really funding a war that we all want to stop. As Prime Minister Modi has said that this is not an era of war. And many people say---Oh, we criticized India for buying oil, before we didn't. It was designed for us to make sure that oil was kept affordable.

We now think there is enough oil in the world, then why should we put that into bombs to kill babies? Why should we allow that to continue to have a drag on our economy, drag on our supply chains? So, we're confident that this is something we can navigate together with our Indian friends. And the response of India has been very measured. They have appreciated the heads up, and they're looking into details. Asking us, maybe, can we tweak this? But I think India and the US agree that borders should be sacrosanct. When people violate those borders, there has to be consequences, or what do we have in the international system? You face that in an existential way, and we've always stood by you there.

Is this the start of a tariff war? What are your views?

Well, you know, my personal view is that tariffs never help anybody. Consumers pay them. Economies pay a price for them and the world suffers. But I also think it's fair to point out where trade isn’t equal. I think India, in my lifetime, has made remarkable progress. It’s one of the best places to invest, to do business, but it's still one of the highest tariff economies. So, I'm a cheerleader for India. When I say that, I don't say that as a critic who is trying to help American companies get in here. I say that because I'd rather have an American company pick India than someplace else.

India has a scale, India has a value, India is a democracy. So, when an American company tells me privately—“it’s a good place. I want to be there. But to do exports, they are still tariffing my component parts. And in South East Asia or Mexico, I don't have that problem." I think its India's fate is in India's hands. So, some of the talk about the high-level tariffs is an opportunity for India, not just a complaint of America.

Second, as I would say, with President-elect Trump, it's an invitation to negotiate. And I think that India hears that, is looking early on to sit down with the President. Maybe it's a moment you can break through again with more ambition. How do we make it so that if a computer or telecommunications component starts in the US and finishes in India, or a nuclear power plant starts in India and finishes in the US. Isn't that good for both of us?

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The incoming secretary of state has talked about China being a concern and India being a friend. In your experience what has it been?

India is as good a friend we have in the world today. And America, I know, is as good a friend India has today. Whether it is sharing the most exquisite jet engine technology that we have ever developed with India, and not even with some of our closest allies; or whether it is Indian investment that are giving jobs to Americans.

India is the number one investor of our annual trade investment conference now. Not just in people bodies, but in billions of dollars. Bringing steel plants back that were shut down, new electrolyzer plants or technology companies. So, you know, I think that people recognize this is now a two-way street of equals, but there's also equal enthusiasm on both sides. This is an India pushing to be closer to America or America pushing to be closer to India. It's our people wanting to be closer to each other.

Vis-à-vis China?

With China, we both have challenges. We want peaceful relations with China, but we also know that when we're overly dependent. When somebody throttles 99% of any market, whether it's going to be electric vehicles or critical minerals, that's not good for the world. Not good for China, and it's not good for any of us. So, it won't happen overnight, because many of us have ceded that space. But if US and India, together with friends and allies and likeminded partners, can diversify, that shouldn’t be seen as a threat to China or anyone. It should be as a stabilizing factor to the world.

With the incoming US administration, what should be their focus area vis-à-vis India?

Be bold, be blunt, be brave. The time that we can shift supply chain, address the security threats in the world, combat the extreme climate crisis that we see in floods here and fires in my city, that's narrowing. And there aren't many people that can solve this. But US and India are two of the handful of most powerful states in the world that can. And India is growing faster than anything.

Have a vision that is bigger than today. This isn't about getting something to shop a negotiation and take home a scarf today. This is about fundamentally changing the architecture so that the next generation of international order can come from two democracies and likeminded people; where right makes might; not where might makes right.

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