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00:00a well-known professor from the Johns Hopkins University in the US,
00:16Professor Hal Brands has written.
00:18He basically said, we are going to have
00:20a volatile president who is about to
00:23collide with the world in disorder and conflict.
00:26So, I think because the United Open of Make America Great Again of MAGA,
00:32of rejuvenating the American economy,
00:35of giving the American middle class a real growth and a better quality of life.
00:41My question is, is the United States walking away from its global responsibilities?
00:48Is it going to become isolationist?
00:50Is it going to withdraw from the world?
00:52Thank you, Vijay, and let me start by saying,
00:55it's a great pleasure to be in Pune.
00:57That's what diplomats do in order to get some time.
01:00They start by saying completely different things before getting to the answer.
01:04I'd like to say that my trip to Pune is always justified because in Pune,
01:11Pune is very close to our German hearts.
01:13We have 400 German companies in Pune,
01:16and out of 2,200 German companies in India,
01:20400 are in Pune, and all of you know maybe that Volkswagen and Mercedes are here,
01:24and all the car supplies also.
01:25So, there's always a good reason to come to this beautiful place,
01:28and I'm very happy to be here.
01:30So, now I have a little time to reflect.
01:34Let me say, and I could have asked what was your question again,
01:38but I still keep it in mind.
01:43I think it would be too easy to say that the US will be
01:47more going retrenching, going isolationist.
01:52I think that would be too easy,
01:54but what we see,
01:55and you mentioned it yourself,
01:57is that the alliance as we know it,
02:01in Europe, you look at Trump in a much different way than you look from India at Trump.
02:08America is our closest partner,
02:11is our closest ally outside Europe,
02:13and this alliance we took for granted for a long, long time.
02:17I think we have to make ourselves clear to realize that we have to do something to keep this alliance going.
02:29You mentioned the word transactional before,
02:32and I think what we have seen in Trump 1,
02:34that there are requirements from the American side that we have to think about,
02:43and that we have to fulfill to a certain extent.
02:46You might remember the defense spending.
02:50We had a long discussion in Trump 1.
02:52There was the requirement of 2% in Trump 1,
02:572% of your GDP spending for military equipment and arm your armies and armed forces.
03:07Now he's talking about 5% all of a sudden.
03:10That's a different spiel.
03:12So I would say I don't see an isolationist America,
03:17but I see America coming that will require much more of a commitment from our side to keep this alliance going.
03:29And I want to emphasize that from Germany and Europe's point of view,
03:34it's worth the effort.
03:35We want this alliance to sustain.
03:38We don't want to give it up.
03:41Thank you, Philip.
03:42So the next question just sort of segues from this previous one,
03:47and that's coming closer to home.
03:50You know, as you yourself said,
03:52President Trump in his first term talked about Europe taking more responsibility for its own defense and security.
03:59And you also hear him now saying that tariffs are going to be substantially increased on products coming out of Europe.
04:09So the question is, is it that the transatlantic alliance itself is at stake?
04:16You mentioned that outside Europe, the United States is Germany's closest partner.
04:21It's the closest partner to all European countries.
04:24NATO is the military arm of that transatlantic relationship.
04:28Is that transatlantic relationship at stake?
04:31Or will what we see be a new bargain that emerges between Europe and the United States,
04:38which keeps the Americans committed to Europe,
04:41but where the Europeans have to take on much greater financial and other burdens?
04:46Or is Europe just prepared for a reduced American role in Europe?
04:53I think it's in our interest to keep the Americans as engaged and committed in and committed to Europe as possible.