Showdown of America First versus Make in India looms at Aero India 2017

The Economic Times (India)

13 February 2017

Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. promised to build plants in India if the world’s biggest arms importer chose their fighter jets and weapons. That was before President Donald Trump’s America First call.

This week will be a test for that promise as the biggest US defense contractors, Russia’s MiG Corp., and Europe’s Airbus SE line up to display their wares at an air show in Bengaluru in southern India.

Even as they compete for deals, they could find themselves torn between Trump’s push for companies to keep jobs in the US — he has singled out a number of multinational firms on Twitter for public criticism — and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own program that seeks to tie military contracts to some of the manufacturing being done in India.

… “The politics of it looks bad, in terms of the appearance back in the U.S. — especially when he’s talking about an America First campaign,” said Anit Mukherjee, a former Indian Army major and an assistant professor at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. “If companies like Lockheed and Boeing go ahead with the Make in India thing — which in itself is a big question mark — then perhaps he might intervene on that.”

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Last updated on 14/02/2017