Trump appoints loyalist Sergio Gor as U.S. Ambassador to India: Why is India cautious?

U.S. President Donald Trump has appointed his close advisor Sergio Gor as the new Ambassador to India. Taking to his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump today said that Gor has been given the charge of not just India but has also been appointed the Special Envoy for South and Central Asian Affairs.

"As Director of Presidential Personnel, Sergio and his team have hired nearly 4,000 America First Patriots across every Department of our Federal Government in RECORD time — Our Departments and Agencies are over 95% filled! Sergio will remain in his current role at the White House until his confirmation," Trump said.

Trump, in his statement, referred to Gor as a 'great friend' who had worked extensively on the 2024 Presidential campaign and was also instrumental in publishing Trump's many books.

"Sergio is a great friend, who has been at my side for many years. He worked on my Historic Presidential Campaigns, published my Best Selling Books, and ran one of the biggest Super PACs, which supported our Movement. Sergio’s role as Director of Presidential Personnel has been essential to delivering on the unprecedented Mandate that we received from the American People. For the most populous Region in the World, it is important that I have someone I can fully trust to deliver on my Agenda," Trump said.

Who is Sergio Gor?

As per official details, Sergio Gor's actual name is Sergey Gorokhovsky, and he was born November 30, 1986, in Tashkent, which then was part of the USSR. He spent part of his early years in Malta, before emigrating to the U.S.

By mid 2000s, Gor had already entrenched himself into the thick of Republican politics. In 2008, he volunteered to serve in the campaign for John McCain and, soon after, took on roles at the Republican National Committee. His career included also working as a spokesman for hardline conservative lawmakers, such as Steve King and Michele Bachmann, and later for Randy Forbes.

Gor also had a brief stint in media, where he worked for Fox News.

In 2013, Gor joined Rand Paul’s political orbit as communications director for RANDPAC. Over the next several years, he became one of Paul’s closest aides, eventually rising to deputy chief of staff in the Senate. In 2020, he left Paul’s office to serve as chief of staff of the Trump Victory Finance Committee, overseeing fundraising efforts during Donald Trump’s re-election bid.

Reactions from India

Gor's appointment as Ambassador to India comes at a time when the relations between the two countries have plummeted over the issue of Russian oil. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Russia has been heavily sanctioned. But countries like India and China had come as an important lifeline for the Russian economy, with both of them buying oil from Moscow, at discounted rates. While, it did not prickle previous administrations, Trump, in his second term, imposed over 50% tariffs on India for not complying with Russian sanctions.

Several commentators, like Fareed Zakaria, have opined that Trump's actions have serious repercussions, forcing India to look towards Russia and China instead. Zakaria also has argued that Trump has upended decades of American policymaking, which sought to view India as a counterweight to China, a view that has bipartisan support in Washington. Instead, the deep trust deficit, that had plagued India-U.S. relations historically, has re-emerged again.

Immediately after Gor's appointment was announced, the reactions in New Delhi have been muted. Although the Modi government has not issued any official statements yet, but some foreign policy experts have viewed the development with a degree of caution.

Kanwal Sibal, who is a former Indian Foreign Secretary and was also the Indian Ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, France and Russia, took to X to say that this was the first time that an U.S. ambassador to India has also been made the Special Envoy for South and Central Asian affairs.

"This means he will have a much wider mandate covering the jurisdiction of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in the State Dept. Ipso facto he will be supervising India’s relationship within this region. With Pakistan and our other neighbours. This means he will be consulting and coordinating with other US ambassadors in the region to develop a more integrated approach. This is a new form of “hyphenating” India and Pakistan again, amongst other things," Sibal argued.

The fears of Washington hyphenating the relations between India and Pakistan are not new. Recently, in the aftermath of India's Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, Trump had surprised India by saying that he was responsible for the ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed nations. Trump's announcement had not only angered New Delhi but had created a political furore as well.

Indian-American entrepreneur, Asha Jadeja Motwani, on the other hand, has pointed out that Trump, in choosing Gor, has signalled the importance he places on India.

"This is huge & it suggests the following vectors of activity. 1. India will have access to some one who is literally one phone call away from Trump, whatever we want to get done in the US can get done if we can convince Gor. 2. Gor will give India no holds barred honest opinions on what needs to move quickly and what needs to be ratified quickly. 3. India has landed the most powerful American Ambassador in recent history," Motwani said.

Motwani also argued that Gor's appointment could also potentially increase pressure from Washington to make Indian companies invest heavily in the U.S., while it can make investment in India from American tech companies easier.

"Expect some pressure to get Indian conglomerates to commit to investing in the US especially if they are benefiting from the structure of American geoeconomic policies. I expect much greater ease with which American technology companies will be investing in India, but there will have to be a cut in it for America," Motwani added.