The US will seek to prioritise and boost defence and energy sales to India, senior White House officials said Thursday, previewing a meeting later in the day between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The officials also said the two leaders will build on the accomplishments of the American leader’s first term and focus their conversation on key areas such as defence, trade, energy, infrastructure, and regional partnerships when they meet later in the day.
The two leaders are expected to put back on track talks regarding a trade deal, possibly picking up from where they left off during Trump’s first term. The attempt will be to finalise a deal in 2025, senior Trump administration officials said while previewing the meeting.
This will be the first in-person meeting between the two leaders after President Trump’s return to the White House for a non-consecutive second term; his first term lasted from 2017 to 2021. They have spoken twice over the phone — once in November and again in January.
“We will aim to build on defence sales to India to ensure they are prioritising the use of American technology,” one of the officials said. “The President is also focused on unleashing American energy to the rest of the world and will prioritise India as a key importer of America’s natural resources to power its economy.”
The leaders will also discuss ways to improve the trade relationship, which, one official said, “brings down our bilateral trade deficit and ensures an expanded fair trade relationship.”
“There’s been some early body language from the Government of India that’s been well received by the Trump administration, but these are early and modest steps,” one of the officials said, referring to duty cuts announced recently in the annual budget proposals.
“A lot more work needs to be done. I anticipate that what will come out of today’s meeting is further momentum towards a solidified and, I emphasise, fair bilateral trade arrangement between our two dynamic and growing economies. The hope would be to have such a deal in place in the calendar year 2025.”
The President and the Prime Minister will also discuss ways to strengthen the Quad partnership to promote stability and peace across the Indo-Pacific, the officials said.
(Inputs from IANS)
