Trump, India’s Modi push unity message despite trade tensions
HOUSTON — Deafening drums marked the entrance of President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they clasped hands and walked across the stage in a packed Texas stadium Sunday, sending a message of unity between the world’s two largest democracies despite trade tensions.
But instead of dwelling on differences, Trump highlighted the growth of U.S. exports to India, the billions of dollars spent by India on U.S.-made defense equipment and joint military exercises with New Delhi.
“India has never invested in the United States like it is doing today,” Trump said, adding that “we’re doing the same thing in India.”
The president also discussed border security, an important campaign issue for Texas, which shares a border with Mexico. “We are taking unprecedented action to secure our southern border and stop illegal immigration,” Trump said.
About 50,000 Indian Americans attended the “Howdy Modi!” rally in Houston, where the crowd chanted “Modi! Modi! Modi!” as he took the stage to introduce Trump as “my friend, a friend of India, a great American president.”
Modi even used Trump’s political slogan to say the president had a strong resolve to “make America great again.”
Trump said Modi invited him to the rally — one of the largest U.S. gatherings of the Indian diaspora in history — when they met last month in France, and Trump seemed to explain his decision to attend by saying, “I love India.”
Earlier this year, Modi won the biggest reelection India has seen in years and his support for Trump could help the president at the polls next year. The two are to meet Tuesday on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly.
Trump is also scheduled to meet this week with Pakistani leader Imran Khan, who recently solicited the president’s help mediating the Pakistan-India conflict over Kashmir. India’s government has stripped the disputed Himalayan region of its semiautonomy and launched a security crackdown last month.
Trump said U.S.-India bonds are expanding despite tensions over India’s trade surplus with the U.S. In June, the U.S. canceled special trade privileges that had allowed India to export certain goods with lower tariffs. India responded by slapping tariffs on more than two dozen U.S. goods.