At the FII PRIORITY Summit, President Donald Trump expressed his disapproval of the U.S. government’s decision to invest $21 million in initiatives aimed at increasing voter turnout in India, drawing parallels to apprehensions regarding foreign interference in American electoral processes. He questioned the rationale behind such expenditure, stating, “Twenty-one million dollars for voter turnout—why do we need to spend that in India?” Trump further remarked on the perceived hypocrisy of the situation, referencing the minimal financial involvement of Russia in U.S. elections, which was deemed significant despite being only two thousand dollars spent on internet advertisements. He characterized the funding for voter initiatives abroad as excessive, particularly in light of India’s stringent trade policies, noting, “They got a lot of money. They’re one of the highest-taxing countries in the world in terms of us. We can hardly get in there because their tariffs are so high.”
