Jerome Cartillier and Abhaya Srivastava -
onald Trump on Tuesday failed to strike any major trade deal with India at the end of a visit big on photo opportunities but short on substance and overshadowed by deadly riots.
Speaking after talks in New Delhi with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the US president said only that they had made “tremendous progress” towards a comprehensive agreement and that he was “optimistic we can reach a deal”.
While minor compared to his trade war with China, Trump has slapped tariffs on Indian steel and aluminium and suspended duty-free access for certain goods in an effort to cut the $25-billion US trade deficit with Asia’s third-biggest economy.
Under pressure to deliver ahead of elections in November, he has pressed for greater access to the vast Indian market of 1.3 billion people for US dairy producers, makers of medical goods and for Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
But Modi, who has a lot in common with Trump with his “Make in India” mantra echoing Trump’s “America First” slogan, has responded with higher tariffs on US goods including $600 million worth of Californian almonds.
Modi, speaking alongside Trump a day after they appeared together at a raucous rally in front of 100,000 people, said only that both sides “have agreed to start negotiating for a big trade deal”.
Arriving on Monday Trump hailed India and its “tremendously successful” but “very, very tough” Modi at the rally inside the world’s largest cricket stadium in Modi’s home state Gujarat.
The razzmatazz of the “Namaste Trump” event was recompense for a “Howdy Modi” extravaganza in Houston last year when the two leaders held hands and Trump compared Modi to Elvis Presley.
Trump and First Lady Melania then flew to the Taj Mahal where they held hands, and on Tuesday were given the full pomp of an official welcome and paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at the independence hero’s memorial in Delhi.
Trump and Modi did however announce $3 billion in defence deals, including for the sale of naval helicopters, proof of their deepening strategic alliance to counter the rise of China in the region.
But the absence of a trade deal between the world’s biggest economy and its second most populous nation showed that behind the bonhomie they remain far apart. At Monday’s rally Trump described Modi as “very very tough”.
Trump, at least in public, stopped short of voicing unease about a new citizenship law that has raised concerns abroad, including in Washington, about the direction of India under Modi.
— AFP
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