Nikki Haley likely to be part of Trump team, feels Indian American Republican supporter Jiten Agarwal

She may have run against Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary race, but former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley may still be a part of the President Elect’s team when he takes charge at White House next year, feels Jiten Agarwal, a prominent Indian American business and community leader and CEO of QuantAi, a global data and AI company.

“I think Haley will have a place in Trump’s Cabinet. She has supported Trump over Kamala Harris after she dropped out of the presidential race. She was invited to speak at the Republican National Convention in the presence of Trump, who has also mentioned in an interview that Haley will have a place in his administration,” Agarwal, who had hosted high-profile fund-raising receptions for Trump and Vice-President elect J.D. Vance in Houston, Texas; and also supported Haley’s campaigns, told the Times of India.

He feels that Indian Americans have emerged an influential community in the USA and played a significant role in the election of Trump for the second term. “Trump’s post on a social media platform on the attacks on the Hindus in Bangladesh and protecting their rights did mobilise the community to go out and vote,” Agarwal said. He added that there is a perception among the Indian American community that US foreign policy under the Trump administration is more favourable to India than the Democrats. “The recent Canada-India diplomatic fiasco led to a perception that the current administration in USA is not helping India at all. Many people do not like the Republican party’s stand on abortion and guns but it seems that other promises by the Trump-Vance team took the precedence,” Agarwal felt.

A successful entrepreneur in Texas, Agarwal feels that Trump’s policies in his last tenure helped businesses tremendously and he hopes there will be a continuity this time too. “One of the most likely tax proposals to become a reality would be an extension of the tax cuts enacted during Trump’s first administration, which are set to expire in 2025. Those cuts lowered the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%, reduced individual income tax rates, and increased the standard deduction. To lower housing costs, Trump has said he would allow homes to be built on federally protected land, something that could help increase the supply of homes in places like Nevada and Arizona,” Agarwal said. He feels that many Indian Americans who own large real estate businesses are upbeat about Trump’s proposal to promote home ownership through tax incentives.

Agarwal feels that while Indian Americans were not an influential vote bloc until recently and their support did not matter to either Democrats or Republicans, significant efforts, by several community organisations such as HinduPact, Disha and Indian American PAC, to motivate and encourage Indian Americans to vote, are helping lift the visibility of the community. “We have been educating the community on the need to vote so that elected officials give more weight to our interests and views. People understand this and hence the voting percentage of Indian Americans has increased recently,” Agarwal said.