US Vice President JD Vance Meets PM Modi, Talks Focus On Trade Deal

New Delhi:

US Vice President JD Vance, who is in India for a four-day visit, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi today for a closed-door meeting. The meeting between the two leaders came at a time when the world is facing uncertainty over a raging US-China trade war.

The meeting, which was followed by delegation-level talks, also comes at a time when India and the United States are at an advanced stage of talks to firm up a bilateral trade deal that will benefit both nations.

President Trump, who had imposed a 26 per cent tariff over and above the previous 10 per cent tariff on Indian goods, has currently put the new "reciprocal" tariffs on "pause" for 90 days - which is seen be economists as a window to finalize the "win-win" trade deal between bother sides.

A CRUCIAL TRADE DEAL

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Vice-President JD Vance welcomed the progress made in negotiations over the India-US bilateral trade agreement, a statement issued by the government noted.

India and the United States enjoy a special and privileged partnership and are widely seen as custodians of the democratic world, being the largest and the oldest democracies respectively.

The White House has said that the Trump Administration has put its relations with India as a top priority and is keen to have a trade deal in place that might somewhat cushion the blow of a trade war with China - the world's largest manufacturer of goods. Leaders in India have said that a trade deal was expected by Autumn, but is being given priority to be completed by end of July - which is peak Monsoon season.

India however, has made it clear that it will not be hurried into a deal, nor would it be compelled to make a deal "at gunpoint". A deal will only happen when it takes India's concerns into account, New Delhi has said.

According to Bloomberg, an unnamed official in New Delhi has said that sector-specific trade discussions will take place this week, shortly after the meeting between PM Modi and JD Vance. The report also claimed that a new goal might be set - to wrap up the trade talks by end of May.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who will be in Washington soon for a meeting of the IMF, will likely hold advanced-level talks with senior US officials there in order to finalise the India-US trade deal.

US INVESTMENT IN INDIA

India is also looking for a significant rise in investment from the United States in the technology, manufacturing, automobiles, and energy sectors.

Just last week, tech billionaire Elon Musk, who also owns EV giant Tesla and satellite internet firm Starlink spoke with PM Modi over a phone call. He later indicated that he would be visiting India later this year, signalling a possibility to venture into the Indian market, where his companies in particular are not present - be it Tesla, SpaceX, or Starlink.

Last month, India and the United States saw a major breakthrough in its civil-nuclear cooperation, with the US Department of Energy giving a final approval permitting a US company to jointly design and build nuclear power plants in India.

The US firm which was given the licence was Holtec International. The global energy firm is owned and promoted by Indian-American entrepreneur Krishna P Singh. Its fully-owned Asia subsidiary - Holtec Asia - has been operating since 2010 and is headquartered in Pune, where it also runs its specialised engineering division. It also has its manufacturing plant in Gujarat's Dahej, located in Bharuch district.

According to reports, US firms are also aiming to invest in India to ramp up its production line for gadgets like laptops, tablets, and mobiles. US firms aim to reduce its dependence on China and India has emerged as a favourable alternative in this sector. India already is among the global leaders in mobile manufacturing.

DEFENCE AND STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGIES COOPERATION

Besides reviewing the progress on the bilateral trade agreement, Prime Minister Modi and Vice-President Vance discussed ways for India and the United States to "enhance cooperation in the defence, strategic technologies" arena, a statement issued by Indian government read. Working together in the Energy sector was also discussed in detail, it added.

The statement did not elaborate on what was discussed in terms of defence cooperation. President Donald Trump had offered US' F-35 stealth fighter jets to India earlier this year. Whether or not that figured in the talks is not known yet. When PM Modi and President Trump had met in February, the two leaders had also discussed cooperation in the fields of missile technology and undersea systems.

The United States has already upgraded India as a Major Defence Partner with Strategic Trade Authorization-1 - which makes India at par with all of US' NATO allies.

During today's meeting with JD Vance, Prime Minister Modi recalled his visit to Washington DC in January and his fruitful discussions with President Trump, which laid down the roadmap for close cooperation between India and the US, leveraging the strengths of Make America Great Again (MAGA) and Viksit Bharat 2047.