During the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) Leadership Summit in Washington, DC, Democrat Congressman Ro Khanna delivered a sharp critique of President Donald Trump's foreign policy and immigration stance on Monday, June 29, 2026. Khanna accused the Trump administration of abandoning America's moral vision and adopting a foreign policy based on 'might makes right,' which he argued threatens global stability and undermines US leadership in technology and artificial intelligence.
Khanna's Critique of Trump's Foreign Policy
Khanna directly targeted the administration's rhetoric and actions toward multiple nations. 'Now you have an America that has forgotten that moral vision, that has a foreign policy of might makes right, threatening not just Iran, threatening Cuba, threatening to conquer Greenland and we were having dinner as if everything is normal,' he stated. 'Who cares about the partnerships of this and that when this President is literally destroying America's leadership in the entire world?'
Impact on Immigration and Tech Talent
The congressman also strongly condemned the administration's immigration policies, particularly regarding student visas and the demonization of foreign talent. 'And the demagoguery about immigrants, the demagoguery of this President and talking about the lack of immigrants coming into the United States. How can we sit here and not condemn his policies on what he has done with student visas, with the demonization of talent coming to the United States,' Khanna said.
He cited specific statistics to highlight the damage to US technological competitiveness: 'He talks about leading in AI. 38% of the top AI researchers are of Chinese origin. 72% have foreign degrees. This is a President who doesn't understand that we need to be recruiting talent, not turning talent away. He's a lame duck.'
Political Predictions and Democratic Confidence
Khanna concluded with a confident prediction for upcoming electoral cycles, asserting, 'The Democrats are going to win decisively in 2026 and we're going to win in 2028.'
US Official on Digital Sovereignty and India's Role
Earlier at the same summit, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg warned that concepts of digital and artificial intelligence sovereignty can be politically manipulated abroad, potentially pressuring nations to waste resources on replicating outdated technologies. He argued that genuine sovereignty comes from cutting-edge innovation and active contributions to the global tech ecosystem, not from absolute control over obsolete frameworks.
Helberg highlighted India as a crucial ally for the US in the pursuit of technological dominance, citing its vast engineering talent pool and rapidly expanding tech sector. 'India is especially interesting because it's not only a country with whom we have a deep values alignment, but India obviously is the only country on Earth that fundamentally rivals China, with respect to the depth of its engineering workforce and talent pool,' he observed.
Helberg emphasized that 'sovereignty comes from being a net contributor to the world's innovation ecosystem. It is about innovation sovereignty, not just 'do you control last year's stack entirely in-house.''
