Washington, Feb 13 (IANS) 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 when they meet later in the day, focusing on key areas of defence, trade, energy, infrastructure and regional partnerships.
The two leaders are expected to put back on track talks regarding a trade deal, picking up perhaps from where they left off in Trump’s first term. The attempt will be to put together a deal in 2025, senior Trump administration officials said previewing the meeting.
The two leaders will meet in person for the first time after President Trump’s return to the White House for a non-consecutive second term; his first lasted from 2017 to 2021. They have spoken on the phone two times, once in November and then 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 their economy.”
The leaders will also discuss how to improve the trade relationship that, one of the officials 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) they are early but modest steps,” one of the officials said referring to duty cuts announced recently in the annual budget proposals.
“A lot more work to do. I anticipate what’ll be coming out of a meeting today is further momentum towards a solidified fair, and I emphasize that there is a 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 build up the Quad partnership to promote stability and peace across the Indo Pacific, the officials said.
–IANS
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