India’s prime minister to meet with Trump
WASHINGTON — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet for the first time with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, part of a two-day “no-frills” visit to the capital that will include little of the pomp of the prime minister’s earlier trips during the Obama administration.
The White House said the two leaders will seek to advance “common priorities” for the U.S.-India part- nership, a list that includes fighting terrorism, promoting economic growth and expanding security coop- eration in the Indo-Pacific region.
Officials on both sides have tried to set low expectations for the meeting, casting it as a way for the two men — who have previously spoken only by phone — to get to know each other.
Indian diplomats in Wash- ington emphasized the com- monalities between the lead- ers, citing Modi’s business sensibilities and populist appeal. White House aides focused on something even more Trumpian.
“They are the world’s m os t-foll owed political leaders on social media,” a senior administration offi- cial told reporters at a back- ground briefing on the meeting, before quickly adding: “President Trump is slightly ahead of Modi.”
As of Saturday morning, Trump had 32.7 million Twitter followers, with Modi clocking in at 31 million.
“That shows the kind of leaders they are: Both are innovators; both are business executives,” said the administration official, who spoke on condition of ano- nymity to preview the visit. “I think they’ll find a lot of common ground.”
Modi’s goal is to create a special bond with Trump, the prime minister’s aides said.
“Without chemistry, there is no physics,” one Indian official said.
New Del h i has been alarmed by Trump’s courting of Xi Jinping, president of regional rival China, whom he hosted at his Mar-a-Lago winter estate in April, offi- cials in India said. White House officials dismissed suggestions that the administration has ignored India.
Modi’s visit will lack the type of public display of affection that marked his visit to the Obama White House in 2014, when he and then-President Barack Obama visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial together.
But Trump aides said Modi, after meetings with the pres- ident, will also be treated to a cocktail reception and a working dinner at the White House, the first for a foreign leader under Trump.
“The White House is every interested in making this a special visit,” the senior administration official said. “We’re seeking to roll out the red carpet.”
The official said much of the focus of the bilateral meetings would be on counterterrorism and security, noting that the administration hopes to elevate India as “a major defense partner on par with our closest allies and partners.”
The United States is India’s second-largest defense supplier, and a $2 billion deal for the United States to sell 22 unarmed drones to India to protect its vast coastline appears set for approval by the Trump administration.
Modi, 66, has made his reputation as a strong — some say authoritarian — leader who has made his country’s economic progress the hallmark of his administration, trotting the globe to drum up foreign investment. In that, he’s likely to find common ground with Trump.
Unlike the president, however, Modi enjoys widespread popularity at home, polls show.
Trump has been bullish on the potential of India’s fast-growing economy, viewing it as a good place for foreign investment. The Trump Organization has licensed the president’s name to five real estate projects in India, and Trump visited Mumbai on business before becoming president.
“They could either hit if off amazingly or fall out completely,” said Rajiv Kumar, an economist and author. Both are fairly focused on dealmaking, Kumar said, Trump as a businessman and Modi from his time as chief minister of the busi- ness-friendly Indian state of Gujarat.
Yet, Tr u mp has been unpredictable with New Delhi so far. He made a point to call Modi in March after his Bharatiya Janata Party garnered a key election win in the populous state of Uttar Prad esh, seen as a likely bellwether for Modi’s reelection hopes in 2019.
But the president also was highly critical of India and China during his speech when he announced this month that the U.S. would be pulling out of the Paris accord on climate change.
Trump wrongly asserted that India made its participation in the agreement contingent on “billions and billions and billions” of foreign aid.
The country’s foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, later dismissed Trump’s remarks as “completely not true,” and Modi has made it clear during recent meetings with European leaders that the country will stay the course on its commitment with or without the United States.