3 SECRETARIES, KUSHNER TO JOIN TRUMP
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump will be accompanied on the India visit by at least three members of his cabinet, including Steve Mnuchin, and his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner.
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump will be accompanied on the India visit by at least three members of his cabinet and sonin-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, who has emerged as the president’s right-hand man on some of the administration’s key foreign policy priorities and engagements.
The three secretaries will be Steve Mnuchin of treasury, Wilbur Ross of commerce and Secretary Dan Brouillette of energy, according to people familiar with the planning of the visit, who also pointed out that these lists could change with additions and eliminations. There was no word if Robert Lighthizer, the trade representative and top negotiator, will join the delegation. He cancelled a visit to New Delhi scheduled for last week to wrap up discussion on a trade deal, putting a question mark on what was once expected to be the defining achievement of Trump’s visit.
The delegation will also include officials from the president’s National Security Council. The state department will be represented by the US ambassador to India Ken Juster, as all other officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, are staying back in Washington DC for a conference of heads of US missions from all over the world, according to people familiar these developments.
Secretary of defense Mark Esper will also not be on the president’s delegation because he is scheduled to make a separate, and his first, visit to India later, perhaps in March.
The president, who will be accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump, will begin his two-day India tour in Ahmedabad with a visit to Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram and a public rally at a stadium that the president has spoken about enthusiastically, specially the “millions” of people he is expecting to see.
The presence of the president’s son-in-law Kushner in the visiting delegation is being seen as significant, given how close he is to Trump and how many of the administration’s key initiatives he has spearheaded including the recently announced West Asia peace plan.
This will be Kushner’s second trip to India after Trump’s election. His first was in November 2018 when he went to Jaisalmer to attend the wedding of a friend from Harvard; they were also roommates. But that was said to be a strictly private visit and it could not be ascertained if he also had official meetings at the time.
Earlier last year, in July, Kushner appeared for the first time at an India-related event, a discussion hosted by the Us-india Strategic Partnership Forum.
It could not be ascertained if the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump will also be on the delegation.