US President Donald Trump has nominated his close aide and Director of the White House Presidential Personnel office, Sergio Gor, as the incoming US ambassador to India. This is happening at a time of great turmoil in a bilateral relationship otherwise called the defining partnership of the 21st century. Informed and general chatter has already started in New Delhi on Gor’s access to the White House, his experience or the lack of it on South Asia and India, and his concurrent role as the Special Envoy for South and Central Asia.
Any envoy representing the United States of America practically brings along almost unparalleled agency of power and influence. In that sense, any representation of the American President in any country faces greater scrutiny and more media spotlight compared to peers’ ambassadors. Gor’s nomination by Trump has attracted even more attention because these are hardly normal times in the India-US relationship.
The relationship has tanked very low and quite fast, beyond anyone’s imagination, and supporters of a stronger India-US strategic partnership are literally scrambling for the right words to justify it, despite Trump’s shenanigans. There is clearly a breach of trust at the highest level, and not just another cog in the wheel, and it will take much effort to repair the damage done already. This is where Gor comes in, Trump’s man in Delhi. How should Delhi look at this nomination? What are the red flags, and is there a silver lining in the cloud?
All the president’s men in Delhi
Ambassadors are the first point of contact between any two countries in war and peace. Between war and peace come moments of heightened diplomatic tensions born out of bilateral dynamics and external developments, veering into policy paralysis or regional crises. Envoys are not always officers of the country’s foreign policy bureaucracy. In the case of the United States, many can be political appointees who are close allies of the President, for many reasons that could include friendship, loyalty, or fundraising during election campaigns. Many of the ambassadorial appointees are known for their direct access to the Oval Office and the President, proverbially having the ears of the POTUS (President of the United States) or someone who can make that 3 am call.
Trump’s new messenger to New Delhi will not be the State Department’s man but will rather be Trump’s man on a mission. Barely 39 years old, Sergio Gor will represent Trump’s “America first” foreign policy in India and have unfettered access to the White House.
Is that a boon or a bane? Looking back, moments of crisis in the India-US relationship have often produced the most storied of ambassadorial stints in Delhi, including John Kenneth Galbraith, who was at the pivot of Kennedy-Nehru communication during the China-India war of 1962.
Chester Bowles served two terms in Delhi, first during the presidencies of Dwight D. Eisenhower and then during the height of the Indian food crisis and India-Pakistan war in the mid-1960s during the Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.
Bowles’ two stints in Delhi present an interesting case of an American envoy who was seen as too close to Delhi’s cause, for Washington’s good, causing much uneasiness among his bosses back in the US. Many times, and more particularly during the Cold War, envoys in India and Pakistan almost competed in terms of reaching the ears of the White House. Well, that may not be the case currently, but any sort of re-hyphenation in US policy toward India and Pakistan is now seen with disdain in Delhi. This brings up the red flags relating to Gor’s current position as the envoy to South and Central Asia, putting him in a precarious position of having to balance his focus and attention among a number of countries in the subcontinent, and more particularly between India and Pakistan.
Ambassadors like Daniel Patrick Moynihan were in the thick of things, navigating the India-US relationship post the infamous Nixon tilt toward Pakistan during the 1971 India-Pakistan war and America’s response to India’s nuclear programme. Envoys, including Robert Blackwill and David C. Mulford, came to Delhi during the momentous phase of the Bush administration, building the next steps in strategic partnership with India, and negotiating the landmark India-US civil nuclear agreement.
Sergio Gor, for sure, will occupy one of the most important US ambassadorial positions. But will he rise to the challenge and become the right man to rebuild the Delhi-Washington bridge that looks extremely shaky, to say the least?
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Pragmatic playbook
Trump took to social media and spoke of Gor, saying, “For the most populous Region in the World, it is important that I have someone I can fully trust to deliver on my Agenda and help us, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. Sergio will make an incredible Ambassador.”
“…Nothing has made me prouder than to serve the American people through the GREAT work of this Administration!..,” wrote Gor. MAGA patriarch and Trump’s former White House Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon, said of Gor, “Does he have a deep knowledge base of the Indian policy issues? He doesn’t, but this guy’s a quick study. He not just has access to the president… but he has a unique trust.”
To say that Gor’s appointment comes at a crucial time in India-US ties will indeed be an understatement. As Trump’s tariffs swing like a pendulum, Delhi and Beijing are in a mood for talks and the murmurs of the Russia-India-China (RIC) revival are getting louder with the upcoming SCO summit. Gor’s appointment comes at a time of great upheaval in the political, economic and strategic churn underway India-US partnership. The trust gap is widening at the very highest level, and in the absence of leadership rapport, even the smallest of “nuts and bolts” issues can grow complex and almost intractable.
So, does Gor have the diplomatic acumen to navigate such complexities? Or is he being sent to Delhi to mostly relay and justify Trump’s message? What credentials and experience would really fit the bill, and what kind of role Gor will play, is still anybody’s guess. But, Delhi must see opportunity in the new envoy, to be prepared for hurdles yet forward-looking and free of preconceived notions that could spoil any chances of a breakthrough.
There are some red flags of the appointment, most starkly apparent in Gor’s outsized role as not only an Indian Ambassador but as an envoy to the broader region. A relationship of the India-US scale deserves a dedicated ambassador without any concurrent job, but perhaps that is the intended signal from the Trump administration.
For Delhi, pragmatism lies in wholeheartedly welcoming Sergio Gor and investing hope in his ability to repair the trust gap at the leadership level, which, if not addressed fast, could percolate down and start influencing the habits of cooperation that have been painstakingly built in the last two decades. In that sense, Gor has already garnered attention and enters the ring with heightened expectations, making his task more daunting. Tempering both expectations and concerns will have to be ingrained in India’s diplomatic playbook to deal with Trump’s second term.
Monish Tourangbam is a Senior Research Consultant at the Chintan Research Foundation, New Delhi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)