US Has Altered Terms Of Engagement: Jaishankar

India-West News Desk

KOLKATA – External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has underscored how the United States has sharply altered the way it deals with the world, saying Washington has set “radically new terms of engagement” by choosing to negotiate with nations one-on-one rather than through broader systems it once underwrote.

Speaking after receiving an Honorary Doctorate from IIM-Calcutta on November 29, he said this shift is reshaping global interactions and forcing countries to rethink how they secure their interests.

In this changing landscape, he said politics now routinely overrides economics, reflecting a world where uncertainty has become the norm. As a result, India must keep diversifying its supply sources to safeguard national requirements.

He noted that India and the United States are currently engaged in two parallel negotiations, one on a framework trade deal addressing tariffs and another on a more comprehensive agreement.

Jaishankar also pointed out that China has long operated according to its own rules and continues to do so, leaving many nations unsure whether to focus on overt competition or the quiet tradeoffs that accompany it. Faced with these competing forces of globalization, fragmentation and supply insecurity, countries are increasingly hedging to protect themselves.

Against this backdrop, India is pushing ahead and the world is noticing its progress. As the government moves toward its vision of a developed India by 2047, the role of foreign policy is to broaden the country’s international footprint.

Jaishankar added that India’s solidarity with the Global South provides a strong platform for this expansion.