U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on Thursday, where administration officials say he will seek to boost U.S. defense and energy sales and further strengthen Washington’s relationship with the world’s most-populous nation as China flexes its muscles in the region.
“We will aim to build on defense sales to India to ensure they are prioritizing the use of American technology,” said an administration official in a briefing with reporters Thursday morning. As is custom when briefing journalists, the official is not being named.
“The president is also focused on unleashing American energy to the rest of the world and will prioritize India as a key importer of America’s natural resources to power their economy,” the official said. “The two leaders will discuss how we can improve our trade relationship that brings down our bilateral trade deficit and ensure an expanded fair-trade relationship.”
When asked directly about New Delhi’s largest concern — of being caught in the wave of reciprocal tariffs Trump has recently imposed as part of an escalating trade war with the world — a second administration official said, “What you’ll see coming out of a meeting today is further momentum towards a solidified, fair — and I emphasize that word ‘fair’ — bilateral trade arrangement between our two dynamic and growing economies. And the hope would be to have such a deal in place in the calendar year 2025.”
That official also touted announcements on “semiconductors, critical minerals, supply chain resilience and diversification.”
Modi said on X that he was “looking forward to meeting @POTUS Donald Trump and building upon the India-USA Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership. Our nations will keep working closely for the benefit of our people and for a better future for our planet.”
Analysts say China also looms large in these talks, and the White House added that the two leaders would discuss the elevation of the Quad grouping of the United States, India, Australia and Japan.
“The sharp deterioration in India-China relations after the 2020 Galwan Valley incident,” in which Indian and Chinese troops clashed over road construction in disputed territory, “undoubtedly encouraged New Delhi to be more enthusiastic about its strategic partnership with Washington,” said Daniel Markey, a senior adviser at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
And India-focused analyst Rick Rossow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies told VOA about India’s goals.
“As President Trump kind of initiates a trade war against the world, India’s got bigger stakes than a lot of countries do in that, and they need to make sure that the relations remain stable,” Rossow said. “So, they want to be here. They want to be in front. They want to talk about things they can buy from the United States. They want to talk about policies they can resolve and try to make sure that things remain on an even keel, because this relationship, it’s important for us. It’s vital for India.”
VOA’s Paris Huang contributed to this report.