A day after US President Donald Trump said in Washington that India has not treated his country “very well,” on issues of bilateral trade, the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said the context in which the remarks were made was balance of trade and there have been efforts to address the concerns. The US President’s remarks came days ahead of his maiden two-day visit to India commencing February 24.
Looking forward to his visit to India, Trump had said India has not treated his country “very well” on the trade front and indicated that a “very big” bilateral deal with New Delhi may not be signed before the American presidential election in November.
Trump, forcefully pursuing his ‘America first” policy, has previously described India as a “tariff king” for imposing “tremendously high” tariffs on American products, also expressed dissatisfaction over the US-India trade ties. “Well, we can have a trade deal with India, but I’m really saving the big deal for later on,” Trump told reporters at the Joint Base Andrews outside Washington on Tuesday when asked whether he expects a trade deal with India before the visit.
Asked about his comments, the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said here it is important to understand the context in which the remarks were made. The context was balance of trade and efforts have been made to address concerns, he said.
India is eagerly awaiting President Trump’s visit and it will strengthen the bilateral global strategic ties, Kumar said. He also said “we don’t want to create any artificial deadline” replying to question on when India-US trade deal will be signed.
On how many agreements will be signed during Trump’s India visit, Kumar said around five MoUs were under discussion. Asked whether the issues relating to H1B visa will figure in Modi-Trump talks, Kumar said they could come up.
Trump will reach Ahemdabad on February 24 where a grand event - called “Namaste Trump” - to welcome him will “showcase India’s rich and diverse culture that will have few parallels in India or elsewhere”.
“US President Trump will land in Ahmedabad around noon, from there he will go to the Motera Stadium to address the ‘Namaste Trump’ event. The route from the airport to the stadium -- we expect a large number of people will line-up,” Ravish Kumar said.
Talking of the route from the Ahmedabad airport to the stadium, he said, “We expect a large number of people lined up along the route”. So far, 28 stages have been set up which will represent various parts of the country, on which artistes will be performing.
The roadshow will feature Mahatma Gandhi’s life and the programme at the Motera Stadium would be like the “Howdy Modi” event, he said referring to the mega programme at Houston in US, where Trump had shared stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and addressed the assembled Indians.
The other stop on Trump’s schedule is Agra and the last stop is New Delhi where Modi and Trump will hold talks on the entire range of bilateral issues including defence and trade. Incidentally, it will be the fifth meeting between Modi and Trump in the last eight months.