India and the United States agreed on Thursday to start talks to win an early trade agreement and resolve their prices while New Delhi promised to buy more oil, gas and American military equipment and fight and fight illegal immigration.
The series of agreements emerged after the interviews between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House, just hours after Trump climbed the climate for American companies in India and unveiled a sheet of Road for reciprocal prices on the countries that have given us homework about us.
“Prime Minister Modi has recently announced the reductions in unjust and very strong prices from India, which highly limits US access to the Indian market,” Trump said. “And it’s really a big problem, I must say.” The agreement to solve trade problems could be made in the next seven months, said India Foreign Secretary, Vikram Misri.
A joint declaration after the meeting said that Washington praised the recent stages of New Delhi to reduce prices on certain American products and increase market access to American agricultural products, while seeking to negotiate the initial segments of an agreement Commercial by the fall of 2025. While the two leaders “had their prospects” on the prices “, which is more remarkable … is the fact that we have a way to follow on this question,” said Misri .
Some leaders’ agreements are ambitious: India wants to increase by “billions of dollars” its purchases of American defense equipment and can make Washington the “number one supplier” of oil and gas, said Trump during A joint press conference with Modi. And Delhi wants to double trade with Washington by 2030, Modi said. Cooperation for a long time planned on nuclear energy, also discussed by leaders, faces continuous legal challenges.
“We also open the way to finally provide India the fartive fighters of the F-35,” said Trump. Misri, the Indian official, later said that the F-35 agreement was a proposal at this stage, without any official process in progress. The White House did not respond to a request for comments on any agreement.
What Trump wants
Although Trump had a warm relationship with Modi during his first mandate, he said again on Thursday that India’s prices were “very high” and promised to match them, even after his previous samples on the Steel and aluminum, India producing metals is particularly difficult.
“We are reciprocal with India,” said Trump at the press conference. “Whatever India loads, we charge them.” Amended to protect the interests of India. “One thing that I appreciate deeply and I learn from President Trump is that he keeps the supreme national interest,” said Modi. “Like him, I also keep India’s national interest at the top of everything else.”
The two leaders have rented themselves and agreed to deepen the cooperation in security in Indo-Pacific, a reference that is barely veiled to competition with China, as well as to start joint production on technologies such as the artificial intelligence. Asked before the meeting on the stages that India took, a source described it as a “gift” for Trump designed to reduce trade tensions.
A Trump assistant said the president sees defense and energy sales to India lowering the American trade deficit. India energy purchases in the United States could go up to $ 25 billion in the near future, compared to $ 15 billion last year, said India Misri, adding that this could contribute to reduce the trade deficit.
The prices will continue to dominate the relations of the two countries, said Richard Rossow, head of the India program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a reflection group. “It will be a boxing match,” he said. “India is ready to make a few sure, but there is a limit.” The United States has a trade deficit of $ 45.6 billion with India.
Overall, the average American rate weighted by trade was approximately 2.2%, according to data from the World Trade Organization, against 12% of India.
Fight illegal immigrants
Trump wants more help from India on unauthorized immigration. India is a major source of immigrants in the United States, including a large number in the technology industry on work visas and others in the United States illegally. The joint declaration said that the two countries have agreed to deal with illegally immigration and human trafficking by strengthening cooperation in matters of the law.
India can be essential to Trump’s strategy to thwart China, which many in its administration consider the first American rival. India is wary of the military accumulation of neighboring China and contributes for many of the same markets.
Modi is also concerned that Trump can conclude an agreement with China which excludes India, according to Mukesh Aghi, president of the lobbying group of the American strategic partnership forum. India continued its links with Russia as it was carrying out her war with Ukraine. India has remained a great consumer of Russian energy, for example, while the West has worked to reduce its own consumption since the start of the war.
“The world had this thought that India is in a way a neutral country in this whole process,” said Modi. “But that is not true. India has one side, and this side is peace.”
