Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the White House sometime in February to meet President Donald Trump.
New Delhi/Washington: In what could further boost India-US ties under a new US administration, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the White House sometime in February, US President Donald Trump has announced, as he termed the ties between the two countries as “very good” and claimed that India will do the “right thing” on illegal immigration.
Trump’s statements came after a phone call with PM Modi. The announcement of the visit and the clear articulation of US demands on trade, defense, and immigration point to both the diplomatic opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in the India-US relationship.
“I had a long talk with him (Modi) and he is going to be coming to the White House in the next month, probably in February,” the President said. While the dates have not been announced, there is speculation that Modi may visit Washington, DC, after attending a summit on artificial intelligence (AI) in Paris in mid-February.
Later, the White House said that Trump and Modi discussed “expanding and deepening cooperation”, and a range of regional issues “including security in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe”.
India has already said that it is opposed to illegal immigration and will take back illegal immigrants from the US once they are identified.
In recent weeks, New Delhi has signaled a willingness to reduce tariffs in specific sectors, purchase more energy from the US to bridge the deficit, and even embark on discussions with the aim of a trade pact.
The two leaders have shared a close personal relationship going back to President Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021. The US president jointly addressed a rally hosted for Prime Minister Modi in Houston in 2019 called the “Howdy Modi” rally and then he traveled to India in February 2020 for a “Namaste Trump “ in Prime Minister Modi’s home state Gujarat.
