Takeaways from Modi, Trump meeting: Cooperation on trade and defense – plus some mutual praise

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the U.S. President Donald Trump spoke about easing tariffs, resolving trade issues and shoring up defense ties in a meeting at the White House on Thursday.

Even though Trump threatened to impose tariffs, the two leaders said they’d talk about trade, signaling that New Delhi and Washington could offer each other concessions.

Trump called Modi a “much better negotiator than me,” while Modi played on Trump’s “MAGA,” or “Make America Great Again,” catchphrase, saying he he was determined to “Make India Great Again.”

Here are some key takeaways from the meeting:

Concerns over trade and tariffs were the highlight of the meeting

Trade and tariffs issues figured extensively in the meeting. Trump said New Delhi will not be spared and said the import levies imposed by India are “very unfair and strong.”

But he and Modi agreed to work on a deal to resolve trade concerns, which Modi said he expects to be completed later this year.

Trump also said that his administration wants to bring down the trade deficit with India — which stands at $50 billion — by increasing U.S. energy exports to the country.

Modi offered to double bilateral trade with Washington to $500 billion by 2030.

“The fact is that Trump is trying to change the global trading order. India recognizes this and now is looking for a pragmatic way to resolve the differences,” said Raja Mohan, an analyst at the Institute of South Asian Studies in Singapore.

Modi and Trump signal a new defense partnership

Trump said the U.S. will increase its military sales to India and eventually provide F-35 stealth fighter jets. He did not provide a timeline, but Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters that the process is “at the stage of a proposal.”

Rahul Bedi, an India-based defense analyst, said such a deal could “take several years.”

Since 2008, India has contracted for over $20 billion worth of U.S.-origin defense equipment, and a recent deal will allow U.S.-based General Electric to partner with an Indian company to produce jet engines in India.

Modi and Trump also agreed to deepen security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, a thinly veiled reference to competition with growing China in the region.

A terror attack accused will be extradited to India

Trump said he’d back extraditing one of the plotters of the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed appearing to refer to Tahawwur Hussain Rana.

Indian officials have accused Pakistan’s intelligence agency of working with Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taibah to mastermind the attack, an allegation Islamabad has denied.

If Rana is extradited to India, it will boost Modi’s domestic standing. He’s positioned himself as tough on archrival Pakistan.

Modi and Trump also said they discussed immigration, with the Indian prime minister saying India will take back any of its citizens living illegally in the U.S.

India recently accepted the return of 104 migrants brought back on a U.S. military plane.

___

Associated Press writer Ashok Sharma contributed to this report.