Donald Trump could visit India as early as April. Reports from Washington DC suggest that India and China loom large on his “trade-driven” foreign policy agenda, and his advisors reportedly told The Wall Street Journal that while reaching out to China’s Xi Jinping for a possible visit, India was also on the cards with April a possibility.
The report said preliminary discussions had already been held with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during his visit in December, and this could be followed up at the meeting to discuss the Quad Summit after the inauguration. The summit is to be hosted by India later this year.
There could be an invitation to Prime Minister Modi to visit the US sometime in the spring, the reports added.
Trump’s China visit is expected to focus on bridging the US trade deficit, a little over $992 billion, as against $36.8 billion with India.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump referred to his phone call with Xi Jinping last Friday.
“The call was a very good one for both China and the US. It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together and starting immediately. We discussed balancing trade, fentanyl, TikTok and many other subjects. President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the world more peaceful and safe.”
China’s trillion dollar trade surplus announced only days ago, is expected to add to the pressure on the incoming Trump administration to do something about it.
Given that China is not seen to have delivered on its promise to curb the export of fentanyl to the US, which is contributing to the opioid crisis there, any Trump visit will be closely watched for deliverables.
India’s trade surplus is more modest, nevertheless Trump will want Modi to do something to bring it down, buying more American products perhaps, or reducing tariffs.
