Takeaways from India's Prime Minister Modi's Recent Visit to President Trump in D.C.
Photo via BBC
ANAGHA CHAKRAVARTI: On Feb, 13, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to the White House in Washington D.C. for a working visit to meet President Donald Trump. Narendra Modi served as the Prime Minister of India during Donald Trump's first term, fostering a well-established relationship between the two leaders. At face value, both leaders are generally full of praises of each other and the media has even dubbed their friendship as a “bromance.”
The visit came on the heels of talks on US tariffs, the debate over H-1B visas and the controversy over the mistreatment of Indian nationals on a deportation flight from the US to India. Topics discussed during the meeting included cooperation in the military realm to finalize a defense framework and conversations on economic trade including discussing tariffs and a trade deal.
President Trump has been imposing higher tariffs on various US trade partners including Canada, which has raised several concerns. He has talked about the idea of reciprocal trade and restoring “fairness and reciprocity,” on the US-India trade relations. India generally has very strong tariffs and President Trump is well aware of that. Currently, the US and India “have a trade deficit of $50 billion in India’s favor.” India will not be disregarded in President Trumps’ distinct tariff and trade war and time will tell what the impact will be. It is without a doubt though that the reciprocal tariffs policy is expected to “have a widespread impact on global trade,” especially for countries like India. Trump also announced an increase of oil and gas exports to India.
Immigration was also discussed during the meeting between the two leaders. India accepted deportation flights earlier this month including a plane carrying 104 migrants to the city of Amritsar. Last week, India also received more such flights from the US and Latin America. India has generally been cooperative with the US amidst Trump's major immigration crackdown. Modi emphasized that he is ready and prepared to take back “any verified Indian who is in the U.S. illegally.” To date, around 350 undocumented Indian nationals from the US have been sent back to India.
A US deportation flight to India on Feb, 5 was subject to major controversy as US officials kept several Indian migrants in shackles during their long journey home. A government minister in Amritsar condemned this treatment and India’s External Affairs Minister, Dr Jaishankar said that, “the government is working with the US to ensure Indian citizens are not mistreated while being deported.” It is unclear and unlikely that this specific controversy was discussed during Modi’s visit to D.C.
Trump announced that there would soon be a major increase on “military sales,” to India. This is critical because India has been the world’s largest importer of weapons for many years and most of its weapons imports come from Russia. But India has been diversifying its import partners. The US has become India’s third largest arms supplier. President Trump has also agreed to offer India with F-35 fighter jets.
Modi had a separate meeting with national security adviser Mike Waltz to talk about technology, defense and security. Dr. Jaishankar was also present for the meeting. Modi met businessman and US special government employee, Elon Musk, newly appointed US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and entrepreneur and politician Viviek Ramaswamy. He met US Vice President JD Vance in the AI Summit in Paris last week and discussed the diversification of India’s energy sources.
Apart from issues such as trade, military cooperation, and immigration, there are long term challenges facing the US-India relationship such as the rise of China. The US has been trying to “promote India as a bulwark against China,” as India has been pursuing strategic autonomy as its foreign policy under Modi. It is not only the United States, but also EU countries and the UK, that have significantly enhanced their engagement with India in recent years, driven by factors such as the China challenge and the desire to strengthen stability in the Indo-Pacific region. This is a favorable position for India to be in as both the US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor have shown “pro-India and anti-China inclinations.” However it will not be as easy or straightforward to promote India as a counterweight to China in certain domains such as in trade in our interconnected world.
For the most part, both Modi and Trump “agreed to continue– and even build upon -various forms of institutional engagement.” This includes initiatives such as Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with the foreign ministers of the Quad’s member nations earlier this year.
India is a crucial country because it is “neither an adversary….nor an ally,” in the traditional sense. Scholars from the United Institute of Peace predict that the US-India relationship is likely to remain at a positive trajectory and that India seems “reasonably well positioned” to respond to all the changes that have and will come with the Trump administration. The US and India are continuing to work together as strategic partners on the world stage, especially in the Indo Pacific. It will be important to keep in mind the commonalities and differences between the two governments to “balance cooperation with potential friction,” and achieve long term goals.
Anagha Chakravarti is a staff writer for On the Record. She is from Delhi, India and grew up in Manila, Philippines. She is a senior in the School of Foreign Service, majoring in International Politics, minoring in International Development and completing a certificate in European Studies