The Trump administration’s foreign policy and Bangladesh

It is not a secret that the Awami League had been waiting in hopes that Donald Trump would win the US Presidential elections in November 2024. Their idea seems to have originated from the first Trump presidency. During Trump 1.0, there were several factors which led AL to formulate its opinions that this was the administration which would facilitate it no matter how deplorable its human rights record, corruption and record of vote rigging we First, in his first term, Trump had demonstrated interest in Bangladesh only when, in 2019, the organizing secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu Christian Unity Council named Priya Saha told him at a much-publicized meeting in the Oval Office that Hindus are in danger in Bangladesh and that her village home was burned by Muslim fundamentalists.

 She was eventually suspended by the organization, but the stage was set for proponents of the false narrative of minorities being unsafe in Bangladesh. To this day, that false narrative is advocated energetically by the Indian media and government. Second, Trump’s friendship with Indian Prime minister Modi solidified Sheikh Hasina’s, her party’s and the Indian quarters’ conviction that the Trump administration, seemingly being such a big fan of the India administration, was naturally also an equally big fan of Sheikh Hasina and her party, no matter how egregious their crimes.Fast forward to 2025 and President Trump’s second administration. Sheikh Hasina has been disgracefully ousted by the student revolution in Bangladesh, being sheltered naturally by India. The Indian media and government continue with their daily futile plots to attempt destabilizing the interim government of Bangladesh led by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, whom Sheikh Hasina views as her archenemy.

The hopes and dreams that President Trump is back and therefore will fully facilitate Hasina’s return to re-establish her dictatorial rule over Bangladesh were also back in the Hasina camp.During a press conference when Indian PM Modi visited the White House last week, one of the questions directed towards President Trump was regarding any “deep state involvement” with regards to the change of government in Bangladesh. To this, Trump replied: “Well, there was no role for our deep state” and that he would leave “Bangladesh to the prime minister.There has been endless speculation about Trump’s comments. In Bangladesh, it has caused apprehension about the US once again viewing the country from the lens of India as was the case during the Obama administration, which viewed this to be the best policy to “counter China.” In India, the glee could be surmised from its infamous media that Trump “gave Bangladesh to Modi.”The Indian media’s spin ignored the subtleties of these comments.

 First, Trump specified that there was no role of the deep state in his administration. Second, he handed the question of Bangladesh, not the country of Bangladesh, over to ModiFirst, we have witnessed this week US-Russian dialogue for the first time in three years in Saudi Arabia.