Trump, Modi talk in India while tensions rise in Delhi

Bloomberg

US President Donald Trump met his Indian counterpart in New Delhi on Tuesday, amid growing tensions between rival protesters in the capital and with a host of critical issues from defense to regional security on the agenda.
Now that the US-India trade agreement looks likely to be pushed until after the US election, news of a $3 billion military deal has boosted hopes the visit will result in real progress on defense ties.
There is also the possibility of a pact on security in the Indo-Pacific — an issue front and center for the two nations as they work to counter the growing influence of China in the region. A joint statement was expected after the meetings between the two leaders and officials on both sides.
“I would look out for specific comments on the Indo-Pacific. Also what language the statement uses on trade,” said Tanvi Madan, a senior fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy in the Foreign Policy program, and director of
The India Project at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “That’s where the strategic narrative will be — in the joint statement.”
Last week, India’s cabinet cleared $2.6 billion purchase from Lockheed Martin Corp of 24 multi-role MH-60R Seahawk maritime helicopters to Indian navy. The State Department has also approved a potential sale to India of $1.8 billion in arms, including air-defense radars and missiles, rifles and other equipment, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced.
“Both the United States and India want to see an Asia that isn’t dominated by any one power,” Alyssa Ayres, who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia during the Obama administration and is now at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Bloomberg TV.
Trump repeated his pledge that there would be a significant trade deal with India in a speech on February 24, but then later told reporters he was in “no rush” to complete it.
Officials have tried to hammer out a modest trade deal opening up India to US agricultural products and medical
devices in return for the restoration of preferential export status that Trump stripped from India in 2019.
The US president was scheduled to hold a press conference on Tuesday.
“If they don’t resolve the trade question the friction will eventually spill over into the security side,” Madan said. “Has the afterglow of the Motera Stadium lasted even to the next day?” The American leader was welcomed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on February 24 by large crowds lining the streets and extravagant displays of local dance and music. He later inaugurated and shared the stage with Modi at a packed cricket stadium at an event touted as “Namaste Trump.”
Just hours before Trump
arrived in Delhi on February 24 violent clashes broke out in the capital’s northeast, as rival groups protested the country’s contentious religion-based citizenship law.
The protests continued to simmer on Tuesday and the Press Trust of India reported the death toll in the violence had risen to seven.