International

In a move sending a strong signal to China, foreign ministers from Quad countries - India, Australia, Japan and the United States - in a joint statement strongly opposed any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion.

US Secretary of State Rubio hosted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Penny Wong from Australia and Japan's Iwaya Takeshi for his first multilateral meeting as the top American diplomat.

At the conclusion of the meeting that lasted for about an hour, the ministers reconfirmed the Quad Leadership Summit in India later this year. "Our four nations maintain our conviction that international law, economic opportunity, peace, stability, and security in all domains, including the maritime domain, underpin the development and prosperity of the people of the Indo-Pacific. We also strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion," a joint statement issued by the Quad countries said.

"We are committed to strengthening regional maritime, economic, and technology security in the face of increasing threats, as well as promoting reliable and resilient supply chains.

"We look forward to advancing the work of the Quad in the coming months and will meet together on a regular basis as we prepare for the next Quad Leaders’ Summit hosted by India," it added. The Quad ministers also reaffirmed their shared commitment to strengthening a 'Free and Open Indo-Pacific' where the rule of law, democratic values, sovereignty, and territorial integrity are upheld and defended, the statement said.

Indian-American lawmakers have opposed the executive order by US President Donald Trump on changes in birthright citizenship, a move likely to hit not only illegal immigrants from around the world but also students and professionals from India.

On Monday, in the opening hours of his second term as president, Trump signed an order declaring that future children born to undocumented immigrants would no longer be treated as citizens.

The order would extend even to the children of some mothers in the country legally but temporarily, such as foreign students or tourists. Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna said changes in birthright citizenship as done through the executive order would impact newborn babies of not only illegal and undocumented immigrants but also those staying in this country legally like on H-1B visas.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

“Trump's order removes birthright citizenship for children born in the US not just to undocumented parents but to 'lawful' immigrants who are temporarily on a student visa, H1B/H2B visa, or business visa. So much for the pretence that the Republicans are for legal immigration,” Khanna said. Indians are the main beneficiaries of the H-1B visas, which bring in the best of the talent and brains from across the world. Highly skilled professionals from India walk away with the overwhelming number of H-1B visas - which is Congressional mandated 65,0000 every year and another 20,000 for those who received higher education from the US.

“No matter what Donald Trump says or does, birthright citizenship has and will be the law of the land. I will fight to protect it at all costs,” Indian American Congressman Shri Thanedar said. Indian American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal described it as unconstitutional. “Plain and simple this is unconstitutional and cannot be done with the stroke of a pen. If enacted, it would make a mockery of our country’s laws and the precedents set in the Constitution,” she said.

A coalition of immigration rights groups has challenged this in court and said that this is unconstitutional. As per the executive order, the US would not give automatic citizenship to newborn babies after February 19, 2025, if one of the parents is not a US citizen or lawful permanent resident.

Also, attorneys general from 22 states sued President Trump in two federal district courts on Tuesday to block the executive order that refuses to recognise the US-born children of unauthorised immigrants as citizens, the New York Times reported.

As many as 18 states and two cities, San Francisco and Washington, DC, challenged the order in the Federal District Court in Massachusetts, arguing that birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment is “automatic” and that neither the president nor Congress has the constitutional authority to revise it. Four other states filed a second lawsuit in the Western District of Washington. The states request immediate relief to prevent the President’s Order from taking effect through both a Temporary Restraining Order and a Preliminary Injunction.

“President Trump’s attempt to unilaterally end birthright citizenship is a flagrant violation of our Constitution,” said New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin.

"The President’s executive order attempting to rescind birthright citizenship is blatantly unconstitutional and quite frankly, un-American,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Ajay Bhutoria, Biden White House Commissioner and Deputy National Finance Chair for the Democratic Party, in a statement, said, the 14th Amendment is not up for negotiation. “This executive order is not only unconstitutional but also undermines the values of equality and justice that define America," he said.

Bhutoria urged the South Asian and broader immigrant communities to stand united against policies that threaten the fundamental principles of the Constitution.

"We must work together to ensure that these divisive and unconstitutional actions do not succeed," he said.

Long Read

President Donald Trump has begun his promised flurry of executive action on Day 1.

With his opening rounds of memoranda and executive orders, Trump repealed dozens of former President Joe Biden's actions, began his immigration crackdown, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords and sought to keep TikTok open in the US, among other actions. 

He pardoned hundreds of people for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. As he promised repeatedly during the 2024 campaign, the president issued pardons late Monday for about 1,500 people convicted or criminally charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol as Congress convened to certify Biden's 2020 victory over Trump.

Separately, Trump ordered an end to federal cases against “political opponents” of the Biden administration — meaning Trump supporters. He said Monday that he would end “weaponization” of federal law enforcement but his actions seemed targeted only to help his backers. In a made-for-TV display at Capital One Arena on Monday, Trump signed a largely symbolic memorandum that he described as directing every federal agency to combat consumer inflation. 

By repealing Biden actions and adding his own orders, Trump is easing regulatory burdens on oil and natural gas production, something he promises will bring down costs of all consumer goods.

Trump is specifically targeting Alaska for expanded fossil fuel production. On trade, the president said he expects to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting Feb. 1, but declined to flesh out his plans for taxing Chinese imports.

Trump also signed an order intended to pause Congress' TikTok ban for 75 days, a period in which the president says he will seek a U.S. buyer in a deal that can protect national security interests while leaving the popular social media platform open to Americans. As he did during his first administration, Trump is pulling the US out of the World Health Organization. He also ordered a comprehensive review of US foreign aid spending. 

Both moves fit into his more isolationist “America First” approach to international affairs.

In more symbolic moves, Trump planned to sign an order renaming the Gulf of Mexico, making it the Gulf of America.  The highest mountain in North America, now known as Denali, will revert back to Mount McKinley, its name until President Barack Obama changed it. And Trump signed an order that flags must be at full height at every future Inauguration Day. 

The order came because former President Jimmy Carter's death had prompted flags to be at half-staff. Trump demanded they be moved up Monday. Another Trump order calls for promoting “Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture. Trump reversed several immigration orders from Biden's presidency, including one that narrowed deportation priorities to people who commit serious crimes, are deemed national security threats or were stopped at the border. 

It returns the government to Trump's first-term policy that everyone in the country illegally is a priority for deportation.

The president declared a national emergency at the US-Mexico border, and he plans to send U.S. troops to help support immigration agents and restrict refugees and asylum. Trump is trying end birthright citizenship. It's unclear, though, whether his order will survive inevitable legal challenges, since birthright citizenship is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

He temporarily suspended the US Refugee Admission Programme, pending a review to assess the program's “public safety and national security” implications. 

He's also pledged to restart a policy that forced asylum seekers to wait over the border in Mexico, but officials didn't say whether Mexico would accept migrants again.  And Trump is ending the CBP One app, a Biden-era border app that gave legal entry to nearly 1 million migrants.

Meanwhile, on national security, the president revoked any active security clearances from a long list of his perceived enemies, including former director of national intelligence James Clapper, Leon Panetta, a former director of the CIA and defense secretary, and his own former national security adviser, John Bolton. As expected, Trump signed documents he said will formally withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreements. He made the same move during his first term but Biden reversed it.

Additionally, Trump declared an energy emergency as he promised to “drill, baby, drill,” and said he will eliminate what he calls Biden's electric vehicle mandate. Trump has halted federal government hiring, excepting the military and other parts of government that went unnamed. 

He added a freeze on new federal regulations while he builds out his second administration.

He formally empowered the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which is being led by Elon Musk, the world's richest man. Ostensibly an effort to streamline government, DOGE is not an official agency. But Trump appears poised to give Musk wide latitude to recommend cuts in government programs and spending. Trump is rolling back protections for transgender people and terminating diversity, equity and inclusion programmes within the federal government. Both are major shifts for the federal policy and are in line with Trump's campaign trail promises.

One order declares that the federal government would recognise only two immutable sexes: male and female. And they're to be defined based on whether people are born with eggs or sperm, rather than on their chromosomes, according to details of the upcoming order.  Under the order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims would be segregated by sex as defined by the order. And federal taxpayer money could not be used to fund “transition services.”

A separate order halts DEI programmes, directing the White House to identify and end them within the government.

India has slipped one place to third slot when it comes to people's trust in the government, businesses, media and NGOs, while the low-income population is far less trusting than their richer counterparts, a study showed in Davos on Monday.

The annual Edelman Trust Barometer, now in its 25th year, released before the start of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, also showed that India ranks low at 13th place when it comes to trust of people in other countries, in companies with Indian headquarters. Canada topped this list of foreign-headquartered companies, followed by Japan, Germany, the UK, France and the US, while those ranked higher than India also included Mexico, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, China and Brazil.

The overall list for trust of the general population in the government, businesses, media and NGOs was again topped by China, while Indonesia replaced India for the second spot by virtue of an increased score despite the Indian score remaining unchanged.

The survey of 28 countries saw Japan replacing the UK at the bottom. In most countries, including India, the low income population was far less trusting than the high income group.

Within the high income group, India was ranked fourth after Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and China, while the low income population made India the third most trusted nation after China and Indonesia.

However, the percentage of the low income population reposing faith in Indian institutions stood far less at 65%, as against 80% in case of high income people. Globally, the survey also threw out some disturbing trends with violence and spread of disinformation now being seen as legitimate tools for change.

The survey showed little impact of elections or change of governments in most countries.

Global communications firm Edelman, which surveyed more than 33,000 respondents across 28 countries, said the barometer revealed that economic fears have metastasised into grievance, with six in 10 respondents reporting moderate to high sense of grievance.