golden palasyo With Ambitious Trade, Defence Targets, India Moves To Placate Trump

PM Narendra Modi with President Donald Trump at the White HousePhoto: Narendra Modi/X.com PM Narendra Modi with President Donald Trump at the White HousePhoto: Narendra Modi/X.com

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington less than a month into Donald Trump’s presidency was to renew his personal rapport with the American leader and  get a sense of the lay of the land under Trump 2.0. India, like the rest of the world, knows well that Trump today is ready to assert American power and dominance in his attempt to "Make America Great Again".

Expectedly, at this early stage of the Trump Administration with the entire cabinet  not yet in place, no deals were signed. But both leaders set out an ambitious trajectory for bilateral ties. This naturally includes buying more US equipment. Trump is pushing hard for India to buy more American gas and oil and defence equipment as well as much more market access for US products. As the US is India’s largest trading partner, the reciprocal tariff that Trump has now imposed will affect India’s exports and perhaps help balance the trade between the two countries.

Ahead of his meeting with the president, Modi met with Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who came with his three kids in tow. Michael Waltz, the new US National Security Adviser also called on the PM, as did Vivek Ramaswamy, Indian American business tycoon who is slated to run for Ohio governor. Tulsi Gabbard, the new  US director of national intelligence, who has an  excellent rapport with Modi, called on him soon after he arrived in Washington.

“The visit of PM Modi delivered on both substantive and symbolic levels. Symbolically he was the fourth foreign leader, the only non-security ally, to meet the American president so early in his administration. On the substantive front, while India will have to deal with the impacts of reciprocal tariffs and lower its barriers to marker access, the promise of continued collaboration on the tech front and of defence sales including the F35 is significant,” says Aparna Pande of the Washington-based Hudson Institute.

For Prime Minister Modi, a symbolic concession from Trump was to get  Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian citizens, back to India to stand trial for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

In the first match, Haryana thrashed Rajasthan 6-1. Rohit Rana (2nd minute), Sunil Maan (11th), Sahil Ruhal (17th) and Ami Khasa (60th) scored one goal each, while Navraj Singh (7th, 37th) struck a brace for Haryana.

free slots

Trump’s meeting with Modi came a few hours after he announced reciprocal tariffs on US trading partners around the world. This would come into effect by April. India is known for its stiff tariff barriers and Trump said so while answering a reporter’s question at the joint presser after talks between the two leaders. He said US companies had problems selling in India because of the high tariffs, and said that now the US would reciprocate. New Delhi had tried to pre-empt the move by reducing tariffs on US companies during this year’s budget. While that was appreciated, President Trump did not spare India. Tariffs would be a blow to India as the US is the largest export market for India’s goods and services. Trump also wants India to buy more oil and gas from the US, which could be much more expensive.

Trump’s constant harking on India’s tariff barriers and insistence on reciprocity has puzzled many. "What is meant by Reciprocal Tariffs? Unheard of in international trade. Since what India exports is not what US exports to India how does it work,” asks retired ambassador K.P.Fabian. "For example, India imposes 30% tariff on Harley Davidson and exports to US motor bikes with inferior engine capacity. Will US impose 30% on that ? Or will it be proportional,panaloko gaming’’ he wanted to know. Mercantilism advocating trade balance or surplus was demolished by Adam Smith, the founder of modern economics, the ambassador noted.

Defence

The big takeaway is the US offer to  sell India the F-35 stealth fighter. "Starting this year, we'll be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars. We're also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F-35 stealth fighters," Trump said at the  joint news conference. But it is an offer that could takes years to fructify. For one, the costs are exorbitant and the stealth fighter has to be compatible with Indian systems that are traditionally aligned with Russia. India continues to buy Russian defence hardware, though in the last twenty years or so India has diversified and bought from US, France and Israel too.

More important for India is the completion of procurement of six additional P-81 Marine Patrol aircraft used by the navy for maritime surveillance in the Indian Ocean.

"President Trump and Prime Minister Modi launched a new initiative – the 'U.S.-India COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century' – to drive transformative change across key pillars of cooperation. Under this initiative, they committed to a results-driven agenda with initial outcomes this year to demonstrate the level of trust for a mutually beneficial partnership,’’ the joint statement issued at the end of the visit said.

Trade Agreement

Modi and Trump wants to expand India-US trade to $500 billion by 2030. A free trade agreement was discussed during Trump’s first term in office. Now the two leaders are planning to take that up. The negotiation for the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector bilateral trade agreement (BTA) will be done by the fall of 2025.

"To advance this innovative, wide-ranging BTA, the U.S. and India will take an integrated approach to strengthen and deepen bilateral trade across the goods and services sector, and will work towards increasing market access, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepening supply chain integration,’’ the joint statement said. There will also be cooperation on AI, semi-conductors and biotechnology.

Prime Minister Modi invited Trump to India saying : "I thank you for your friendship and steadfast commitment to India. The people of India still remember your visit of 2020, and hope that President Trump will come to them once again. On behalf of 1.4 billion Indians, I invite you to come to India.’’

Yet despite the bonhomie on display, the PM was not his usual exuberant self. "It was an odd spectacle, I think. Lots of public demonstrations of affection from both men, but underlain with tension. India seems to have played things well, however, hinting at flexibility in lots of areas, including even tariffsgolden palasyo, without committing to many specific deals. Time will tell if India really will buy American oil or F-35s or US-made cars. My guess is if it does, it won’t happen for some time,’’ says Ian Hall, professor of international relations at Australia’s Griffith university and a fellow of the Australia-India institute in the university of Melbourne.