Former US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, has criticized the Donald Trump administration for its treatment of India, saying Washington has ‘literally spit on their face’.
Emanuel, who has held various positions under the Barack Obama and Joe Biden administrations, said that bringing India closer to the US has been a 30-year project under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
He stated, ‘America has literally spit in India's face under the Trump administration. Bringing India closer to the US has been a 30-year project for every US president. I would not do what Trump has done’.
Emanuel, a 66-year-old former congressman from Illinois, has a long history in Washington, having served as White House chief of staff to President Barack Obama and US ambassador to Japan under President Joe Biden.
He is now considering a White House bid of his own in 2028, with several Democratic governors, including Gavin Newsom of California and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, receiving attention in the early stages of that contest.
India-US relations have been strained since Donald Trump returned to the White House, with the mercurial Republican imposing punitive tariffs on Indian goods due to New Delhi buying Russian oil.
The two countries are still negotiating a trade deal that has seemed to be going nowhere, and Trump has been critical of the H-1B visa, a path to the US that most Indian skilled workers use.
