By Mayank Chhaya-
The overarching message from President Donald Trump to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their meeting today will be “prioritize the use of American technology” in defense and become “a key importer American energy.”
That is the distilled sense based on a background call with senior White House officials before the meeting.
“The two leaders will focus on key areas of defense, trade, energy, infrastructure and regional partnerships,” senior Trump administration officials said.
“We will aim to build on defense sales to India to ensure that they are prioritizing the use of American technology. The president is also focused on unleashing American energy to the rest of the world and will prioritize India as a key importer of America’s natural resources to power their economy,” these officials said.
The two were set to discuss “how to bring down our bilateral trade deficit” which now stands at $46 billion in India’s favor out of the total trade of $120 billion plus. Trade and tariffs are a major feature of the bilateral relations and fraught with potential tensions since Trump has variously described India as a “very big abuser” and “king of tariffs”. However, some recent reductions in tariffs on U.S. goods are being viewed favorably by the Trump administration but as “modest steps.”
‘We are moving towards signing a new defense framework. We are having conversations with them about a number of procurements as well as bring down the trade deficit,” the officials said.
On the question of tariffs, the officials said the president has been clear on his use of tariffs “what he sees as a tool in policymaking.” They said, “There has been some early body language from the government of India that has been well received by the Trump administration.” The officials described the reduction of some tariffs as “early but modest steps.” They said there is “a lot more work to do”, implying that the Trump administration expects more far reaching and substantive tariff reduction.
The officials spoke of a “fair bilateral trade arrangement” between the two countries. It is not clear whether that would mean that the U.S. having a trade surplus with India rather than the other way. There are expectations of a deal during this year to ensure that, the officials said.
There are also expectations of collaboration in “critical technologies” in order that “free societies are leading the way.” Although the officials were not explicit in saying so, it may be interpreted that some of those critical technologies are in the area of artificial intelligence and the mention to “free societies” was an indirect reference to China which has been pushing aggressively on AI.
Semiconductors, critical minerals, supply chain resilience and diversification were mentioned as part of the bilateral discussions.
In the context of China’s position on tariffs and whether India can emerge as a manufacturing powerhouse the officials said, “This heightens the opportunity for Indians to be a part of strengthening supply chain, ensuring that critical supply chains and technologies cannot be weaponized against free societies. They take this opportunity seriously.”
On the specific questions of what role President Trump expects India to play in the possible peace negotiations over the Russia-Ukraine war, the officials said, “The president has been abundantly clear that this is a war that should have never happened. It would have never happened if he was president. He is intent on bringing that war to a close. The Indians have a number of diplomatic relationships and the president, I think, will welcome a conversation with respected world leaders, including Prime Minister Modi” about peace in Europe.
