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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with US President Donald Trump later this year will lean heavily on strategic and commercial issues. Both the sides are already working on a mutually beneficial heavy-duty agenda.
Modi is expected to visit the US in September, but before that a series of high-level official exchanges is expected to take place between the two governments. The US wants India to come up with a “real agenda” this time instead of a regular all-encompassing one, diplomatic sources told BusinessLine .
The PM has already dispatched some of his top officials to Washington to facilitate a “fruitful visit” — his first since Trump took over. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar have visited the US twice to firm up Modi’s meeting with Trump.
According to sources, the US government has made it clear that this time India has to make some “concrete commitments” in terms of reduction in import tariffs and greater ease of doing business before the US can commit to a “hefty investment package.”
Earlier this month, during a meeting with Jaishankar, who was accompanied by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia, the US officials said India has to import more from America and make its intellectual property rights regime more favourable for the US firms operating here, the sources added.
The third India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (S&CD) is expected to take place in May-June, in Delhi. From the US side, Kenneth I Juster, Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, and Wilbur Ross, Commerce Secretary, are expected to attend the S&CD.
More than ever, India needs the US now, keeping in mind the latter’s changing relationship with China.
“Even at its lowest point, the US’s relationship with China is much deeper than its relationship with India. India has to maintain a good relationship with both. The relationship between India and US is a strategic one and it is not just linked to jobs,” said Nandan Unnikirshnan of Observer Research Foundation.
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