America first shouldn’t be misconstrued as US is going alone, says Gabbard

US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has said that US President Donald Trump’s call of ‘America first’ should not be misconstrued as ‘America is going alone’ or being ‘isolationist’.

The relationships US and its partners build together are critical to advance mutual interests, said Gabbard while speaking at the Raisina Dialogue here on Tuesday.

During her three-day Delhi visit from March 16 to 18, Gabbard has had one-to-one meetings with PM Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

At the Raisina Dialogue on Tuesday, Gabbard said, “President Trump is committed to ‘America first’, but it should not be misunderstood to mean ‘America alone’. The relationships we build together are critical to advance our mutual interests.”

On being asked by host Samir Saran, president of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), if America was going into a shell, Gabbard said, “Trump with his America first should not be mistaken as a President who doesn’t understand the importance of relationships with other countries.”

“Trump stands for peace. But it is construed that if you stand for peace, then you must be an isolationist. Nothing could be further from the truth,” she added.

Talking about the India-US ties, Gabbard said the vibrant democracy served as the foundation for the special bond that had long existed between the two countries.

She stated that she had directly heard about India’s security concerns and the US was providing timely and relevant intelligence to its leadership for informed decisions and strengthening its security partnership.

She asserted that focus on technologies was imperative in view of the quickly evolving cyber security needs.

Talking about the Indo-Pacific region, she said it was a critical region, which it is the geopolitical centre of gravity for the 21st century. “Ensuring peace and stability here is essential to our collective objective of security and economic prosperity,” she added.

Gabbard, who is a practising Hindu ended her speech with ‘Jai Shree Krishna’. She had started the conversation by explaining how the Pacific greetings of Aloha and Namaste in India had a deep, spiritual, powerful meaning.