Caution, anxiety in Pakistani and Bangladeshi press over return of ‘disruptive’ Trump

View from India’s neighbourhood: Immigration, election, crisis in West Asia and the implications of an inward-looking US — in Bangladesh and Pakistan, these are the issues that took centre stage as Donald Trump returned to the White House

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on next to members of the press before boarding Air Force One as he departs for Las Vegas at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California

The US is Bangladesh’s largest foreign investor and export destination. (AP)

4 min readJan 25, 2025 01:43 PM IST First published on: Jan 25, 2025 at 01:41 PM IST

Donald Trump’s return to the White House has evoked a range of responses — from anxiety to cautious optimism — in different parts of the world. That’s true of India’s neighbourhood, too, where the US exerts great influence in its dual roles as the greatest superpower and the destination for immigrants. Like in India, policymakers and commentariats keep a close watch on the US’s role in West Asia. And the India factor is unavoidable in how countries in the neighbourhood view US foreign policy.

Writing in the Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo on January 21, international relations expert Imtiaz Ahmed says Bangladesh will have to keep a close eye on Trump’s position towards India. He refers to a post on social media site X in which the US President writes of his desire to “build a close relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi”. Ahmed believes that the Trump administration will push for early elections in Bangladesh. “If the Democratic Party were in power, they might have been more flexible about the timing of the elections,” he writes.

The US is Bangladesh’s largest foreign investor and export destination. That’s why the concern over “Trump’s pledge to launch a tariff war, and his idea of a universal tariff on all foreign goods” in The Daily Star’s January 22 editorial is not surprising. The paper believes that the Bangladesh government and the country’s business community “should take proactive measures such as exploring and diversifying markets and products, engaging in diplomatic initiatives, and strengthening regional and bilateral ties with other nations”. It adds: “The government should also engage with the Bangladeshi expatriate community in the US to build a stronger relationship with the Trump administration.”

“Few have forgotten how disruptive Trump could be as president,” says the Pakistani daily Dawn’s January 22 editorial. “The presence of high-profile xenophobes in his team will remain a concern. Paranoid and unapologetic about their views on race relations, these individuals have already openly supported the far right in Europe and the UK. Their insistence on describing their views as freedom of speech raises fears that xenophobia and bigotry may become normalised and more commonplace. Such narrow worldviews may even dictate the Trump administration’s foreign policy.”

In her column in the same daily on January 25, Pakistani political commentator Rafia Zakaria expresses concern over the Trump administration’s attitude to immigration. “Those who are in the US illegally face a difficult time ahead. This is true regardless of where they have immigrated from. This would include Pakistani citizens who are currently in the US,” she writes. Zakaria believes that “Indians have good cause to be worried. Trump is not only promising to crack down on illegal immigration but also slowing down legal immigration to a trickle — something which will likely impact Indians.”

The Express Tribune’s January 22 editorial engages with the possibilities of an “inward-looking America”. It argues that “Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the WHO signals a retreat from global cooperation on critical issues. These actions isolate the US, undermining its leadership on the world stage and threatening the collective efforts needed to tackle global challenges like climate change and pandemics.” The editorial adds: “As Trump’s America turns inward, the world must grapple with the implications of a superpower that is increasingly focused on domestic realignment at the expense of global leadership.”

The Palestine issue figures prominently in The Nation’s editorial on the day after Trump’s inauguration. “While Donald Trump may have played a role in brokering the ceasefire (between Israel and Hamas), this should not be misconstrued as a sign of future restraint regarding Israeli actions. On the very day he announced the ceasefire, he pardoned members of extremist settler groups operating in the West Bank — groups that had previously faced censure from the Biden administration. Trump’s ties to influential figures like Miriam Adelson, coupled with the strong influence of AIPAC and other Israeli-affiliated groups within his administration, suggest that his stance remains firmly pro-Israel,” it says.