PM Narendra Modi will visit the US on 12-13 February at the invitation of President Donald Trump. This will be the first meeting between the two leaders after Trump assumed office for his second term. Modi will be the fourth global leader to visit the US since the inauguration of Trump.
On the agenda
Strong-India-US set an ambitious agenda to build on global broader strategic partnership and for a mutually beneficial and reliable relationship in all fields. Focus on increasing cooperation in business, nuclear power, defense, important and emerging technologies, anti-terrorism and Indo-Pacific.
Apart from this, there are differences on trade on the agenda or what the trump call needs for fair trade, illegal migration and visa delay. India would seek Trump’s cooperation in advancing recent landmark initiatives like ICT and ICET, both were launched under the Biden administration. Even Trump has threatened to slap high tariffs on India and others, the Modi government will expect to resume discussions for a mini, if not wider, then the trade deal which is not widespread Under the GSP made, India’s benefits can be restored, while the US allows more and more. Market use. Meeting with business leaders, interaction with Elon Musk was not denied.
Previous conversation
- Modi visited us in June 2017 and hosted Trump for a state visit in February 2020
- The two leaders have also talked on the phone twice since November 2024 (November 6, 2024, and 27 January 2025).
- In an initial connection with the new administration, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar represented the PM at Trump’s inauguration. During the visit, Jaishankar met State Secretary Marco Rubio and attended a meeting of quad foreign ministers in January
Area of engagement
1) Bilateral relations
- India and America launched a ‘strategic partnership’ in 2005
- Indo-US relations were extended into widespread global strategic partnership during Trump’s visit to India in February 2020
- During the first Trump administration, the Indo-Pacific region attracted significant attention as a major strategic sector in US foreign policy
- In concert with Japan; Australia, America and India strengthened quadrilateral dialogues. The Trump administration led the Quad to promote a ministerial level dialogue with a senior-official level dialogue. Under the Biden administration, Quad was elevated at a leader summit
2) Trade and Investment
- The US is one of the largest trading partners in India, with overall bilateral trade in $ 190 billion items and services in 2023. India has a trade surplus of over $ 36 billion
- During the financial year 2023-24, America was the third largest source of FDI in India, with an influx of about $ 5 billion.
3) Energy participation
- The US is India’s sixth largest energy trade partner and India’s hydrocarbon business with the US was $ 13.6 billion in FY 2023-24.
4) Education and Cultural
- Cooperation India, US signed a ‘Cultural Property Agreement’ for the first time in 2024 to prevent and curb illegal smuggling of archaic. The US has returned 578 antiquities in India since 2016
- US is one of the most preferred sites for Indian students for higher education
5) Defense cooperation
- Indo-American Defense Cooperation is based on ‘New structure for Indo-US-American-American Defense Defense Cooperation’, which was renewed for 10 years in 2015
- In 2016, the defense relationship was nominated as a major defense partnership
- The top dialogue mechanism is 2+2 ministerial dialogue. It provides guidance on political, military and strategic issues
- India is one of the largest military exercises partners for America
- India has signed a contract for more than $ 20 billion US-root defense articles since 2008, including C-130J, C-17 and Apache.
6) S&T and Space Cooperation
- Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement was renewed for 10 years in September 2019
- ISRO and NASA are developing a microwave remote sensing satellite for Earth observation: NASA-Isro Synthetic Aperture radar
- In January 2024, NASA and ISRO signed a joint statement of the intention of mounting a joint attempt to the Intern Tunnel Space Station.
- ISRO has nominated two Indian astronauts on the Axiom-4 mission, currently in the Ternational Space Station, which are currently being trained in the US.
- India and the US have strong cooperation in important and emerging technologies. The initiative for Critical and Emerging Technology (ICET) was initiated by NSAS in Washington in January 2023
