TRUMP EYES ‘TREMENDOUS’ DEAL
Prospects of two sides inking trade deal during Feb 24-25 of visit have looked slim in recent days
WASHINGTON:US President Donald Trump held out on Thursday the possibility of the announcement of a “tremendous deal” on trade during his upcoming visit to India, but took it back in the same breath, saying the two sides may “slow it down” for now and do it after the November election in which he is seeking a second term.
“We’re going to India, and we may make a tremendous deal there, or maybe we’ll slow it down,” Trump said. “We’ll do it after the election. I think that could happen too.”
nWASHINGTON: President Donald Trump held out on Thursday the possibility of the announcement of a “tremendous deal” on trade during his upcoming visit to India, but took it back in the same breath, saying the two sides may “slow it down” for now and do it after the November election in which he is seeking a second term.
Prospects of the two sides signing a limited trade deal during the February 24-25 visit have looked slim in recent days after a top US trade negotiator cancelled an India visit to wrap up negotiations without ascribing reasons. Trump himself then said he is “saving the big deal for later on”, possibly after the November election. Yet another twist now. “We’re going to India, and we may make a tremendous deal there, or maybe we’ll slow it down,” Trump said in Las Vegas. “We’ll do it after the election. I think that could happen too. So we’ll see what happens. But we’re only making deals if they’re good deals, because we’re putting America first.”
People familiar with the discussions have not discounted the possibility of the announcement of a deal during Trump’s two-day visit, and have said that efforts are on, but they also seemed reconciled with the eventuality of going through the visit without a deal. The US is seeking access to Indian markets in dairy and poultry, removal of control over medical device prices in a limited trade deal and India has sought relief from tariffs on its steel and aluminium exports and restoration of benefits under a zero-duty preferential trade programme.
A more ambitious agreement was left for sometime in the future. It would include a Free Trade Agreement and resolutions of other more complex issues. But Trump may have merged the two now as he has spoken in recent days of a “big deal”. The announcement of a limited deal was expected to be the defining achievement of Trump’s first visit to India as president. But with the talks stalemated, both sides appeared more focussed on a public rally Trump is addressing in Ahmedabad. Trump has spoken of the rally with much excitement. He expects to see “millions” of people from the airport to the stadium, as promised to him, he has said, by PM Modi.
President Trump has also been playfully pushing a rivalry with Prime Minister Modi — for supremacy of Facebook. For the second time, he brought it up on Thursday and twice, in Las Vegas and in Colorado, his next stop. He cited Mark Zuckerberg, the social media site’s founder, to claim he is No 1 and Modi No 2.
Zuckerberg told him so at a dinner three weeks ago. And Trump brought it up with Modi. “I congratulated Prime Minister Modi (on coming second). I said, ‘But, you know, you have 1.5 billion people. I have 350 million. You have an advantage’.”
It could not be ascertained how Zuckerberg declared Trump No 1, and Modi No 2, if he did indeed. Modi appears way ahead of the American president in “likes” and “followers” on his Facebook page with 44,380,858 followers and 44,624,128 likes till earlier in the week. Trump’s page listed 27,543,545 followers, and 25,969,909 likes. He fares much better on Twitter though. With 72.5 million followers, he beats Prime Minister Modi, who is at 53 million.
THE US SEEKS ACCESS TO INDIAN MARKETS IN DAIRY AND POULTRY AND INDIA HAS SOUGHT RELIEF FROM TARIFFS ON ITS STEEL AND ALUMINIUM EXPORTS