BBC News
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised a “mega partnership” between the United States and India, while he and American chief Donald Trump concluded a meeting during which they announced an agreement for Delhi to import more US oil and gas in an effort to shrink the trade deficit between the two countries.
The two -day Modi visit occurs when Trump recently ordered that all the trade partners of the United States – including India – are faced with reciprocal prices.
And while the two men congratulated the leaders of the other, Trump criticized India for having had some of the most commercial prices in the world, calling them a “big problem”.
The Indian chief, seeking to soften the imminent commercial barriers, said that he was open to reducing prices on American products, repatriation of undocumented Indian nationals and the purchase of military hunting planes in the States- United.
During a joint press conference, Modi made several references to the Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, including his own rotation: “It’s India – Miga again,” said Modi.
“Maga Plus Miga …[is a] Mega Partnership for Prosperity “.
Trump also added that India “would buy a large part of our oil and our gas” in order to close the trade deficit between the two countries.
“They need it. And we have it,” said Trump.
India already depends on imported petroleum, which it is supplied from several countries, the energy agreement with the United States “presents a relatively low suspension fruit for both parties,” said Radhika Rao, economist Principal of the DBS Bank of Singapore at the BBC.
“The United States is the largest export market for the goods and services of India, which underlines the will of the administration to smooth preventive commercial relations and to offer concessions to reduce the bilateral trade deficit that The United States manages with India, “she said.
However, “India’s challenge will be to balance its own trade deficit because US oil and gas could be more expensive due to a stronger dollar,” said Amitendu Palit, principal researcher at the Institute National South Asian Studies of the University of Singapore.
“Reciprocal prices are likely to follow India at a given time. Hopefully for India, they will not prove to be bigger than expected,” said Dr. Palit.
Trump also added that the United States would increase sales of military equipment to India by millions of dollars, ultimately providing Delhi F-35 fighter planes.
The two also talked about immigration – another point of pain in bilateral relations – with Trump announcing that the United States would extradite a man who would have drawn the terrorist attack of Mumbai 2008 to “face the justice in India in India “.
Modi thanked Trump for having authorized extradition and swore to accept the repatriations of Indian nationals illegally living in the United States.
Last week, we deportee In a military plane, 104 Indians accused of being illegal immigrants, with a video showing the deportees in the channels. A second flight is expected to land in India on Saturday.
Indians are one of the largest populations of unauthorized immigrants in the United States. They also hold the majority of H -1B visa – a program that Trump had Temporarily prohibited during his first mandate And is now under a new control.
Shortly before his meeting with Modi, Trump had ordered his advisers to calculate new prices on American trade partners around the world, warning that they could start to enter into force by April 1.
He recognized the risks of his pricing policy, but argued that policy would stimulate American manufacturing and that the country would be “flooded with jobs”.
Trump told journalists that “our allies are worse than our enemies”, with regard to import taxes.
“We had a very unfair system for us,” said the Republican president before meeting Modi. “Everyone took advantage of the United States.”
The White House also published a press release which fired a commercial blow through the arcs of India and other countries.
The document noted that the average American price on agricultural goods was 5% for countries where Washington had granted the most favored nation status (MFN).
“But the average mf -applied MFN price is 39%,” said the White House information sheet.
“India also invoices a 100% price on American motorcycles, while we only invoice a rate of 2.4% on Indian motorcycles.”
Trump has already placed an additional 10% rate on imports from China, citing his fentanyl production, a deadly opioid that fueled an epidemic of American overdose.
He also prepared prices on Canada and Mexico, the two largest American trade partners, who could take effect in March after being suspended for 30 days.
Earlier this week, he removed the exemptions from his 2018 steel and aluminum rates.
