US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will visit India from February 24-25, accompanied by a high-level official and business delegation. In his first ever visit to India, the US leader will also be visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat. According to the official statement issued on Tuesday morning, the visit to Ahmedabad, Gujarat is significant as it played an important part in the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi’s life and India’s independence movement. Both Modi and Trump had a conversation on the phone over the weekend and talked about the forthcoming visit. The two leaders agreed that the visit will further strengthen the India-US Strategic Partnership.
Agenda of talks
When the two leaders meet in New Delhi, the bilateral talks are expected to cover a wide range of issues including the impending Trade Agreement, the situation in the Gulf, Energy Security, Space & Military Cooperation and issues related to Immigration and H1B Visas.
The last few months have witnessed intense discussions between the two sides in an effort to resolve issues related to the Trade Agreement.
FE Online was the first to report in November 2019 about the visit of the US President Trump in the first half of 2020 and that the dates were in the process of being finalised.
The two leaders will inaugurate World’s largest stadium– Sardar Patel Stadium—during Trump’s Gujarat visit.
Trade Agreement
There have been several rounds of talks between the officials from both sides to examine the thorny issues deeply and address concerns related to the Trade Agreement. The two sides are hoping to have an agreement ready to be announced during the visit later this month.
The two sides since last September have been trying to conclude a mini trade agreement which will be acceptable to both.
What is at stake?
The two countries are working towards a bilateral Free Trade Agreement which will help in trade and investments going up.
While the US has demanded that in the new agreement the price caps on the Medical Devices be dismantled, India is insisting on capping and rationalising trade margins on the devices.
The US wants to bring down import duties on mobile phones which India is not keen to.
Bringing down of import duties on Harley Davidson is another issue.
In agriculture, India is expected to roll back some duties imposed on apples, almonds, and walnuts. Greater market access for pulses could be refused.
The US is not likely to restore GSP benefits on all Indian products, and may also not rollback higher duties it has imposed on aluminium and steel from India.
India-US Military Trade
While the military trade target is set at $ 25 billion in the next few years, the military purchase from the US has already reached $ 18 billion. India’s military trade has created several thousands of jobs in the US military manufacturing industry.
The two countries have recently concluded the Industrial Security Annexe (ISA) agreement and adopted the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Framework for DTTI.
India-US Energy Ties
Energy is another important aspect of the India-US Trade mix, as India is presently importing around $4 billion worth of oil and gas.
US Companies including: BP PLC, Exxon Mobil, Schlumberger, Total S.A, Baker Hughes, Cheniere Energy, Dominion Energy, are keen to explore the Indian market.
