Venkat Raman
Auckland, February 15, 2025
Depending on their political and leadership proclivities, Indian Newslink readers will say that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaped significant gains from the United States of America following his meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington DC on February 13, 2025 or that Mr Trump had his way on boosting his country’s trade with India and readjusting the balance of payments over the next few years.
From all points of view, Mr Modi’s visit to the USA this week was significant and would lead to closer cooperation between the two countries in the coming years. During his two-day stay (‘at Blair House, the President’s Guest House and not at any hotel,’ as the Indian media emphasises ) in the American Capital, he met with almost all the important players of the new administration including US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Department of Government Efficiency Head Elon Musk, former Presidential-Hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy and his father Ganapathy Ramaswamy.
Several new projects are likely to be established in India in the next two or three years, boosting the country’s manufacturing base.
Several takeaways emerged after a three-hour bilateral meeting between India and the USA, chaired by Mr Modi and Mr Trump, the foremost of which were the deals relating to defence equipment, including fighter jets, supply of oil and gas to India, trade and investment, Technology and Innovation, Mutual Cooperation and People to People ties. Built into each of these are several initiatives, including India’s proposed India-Middle East-Europe Corridor.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana
The Order issued by the Trump administration extraditing Pakistani terrorist Tahawwur Rana to face Trial in India for his role in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, was a part of the Joint Statement issued by the White House at the end of Mr Modi’s visit.
Alleged to have a close link with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), he was prosecuted for his role in the killing of 166 people (including 20 security personnel and 20 foreigners during the terrorist attack that took place in the Taj Mahal Hotel.
As recently as January 21, 2015, the US Supreme Court had rejected a petition to review Rana’s case for extradition. India scored a major victory in obtaining his extradition, signed by Mr Trump.
“Recognising a shared desire to bring to justice those who would harm our citizens, the US announced that the extradition to India of Tahawwur Rana has been approved. The leaders further called on Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks and ensure that its territory is not used to carry out cross-border terrorist attacks,” the Joint Statement.
The Multinational Corridor
The pièce de resistance of the bilateral meeting was the announcement relating to the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor, an initiative that will facilitate the trade route between India and Europe ‘forty times faster than the Suez Canal route.’
The Joint Statement said that the US appreciates India’s role as a developmental, humanitarian assistance and net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region.
“In this context, the Leaders committed to deepening bilateral dialogue and cooperation across the vast Indian Ocean region and launched the Indian Ocean Strategic Venture, a new bilateral, whole-of-government forum to advance coordinated investments in economic connectivity and commerce. Supporting greater Indian Ocean connectivity, the leaders also welcomed Meta’s announcement of a multi-billion, multi-year investment in an undersea cable project that will begin work this year and ultimately stretch over 50,000 km to connect five continents and strengthen global digital highways in the Indian Ocean region and beyond. India intends to invest in the maintenance, repair and financing of undersea cables in the Indian Ocean, using trusted vendors,” it said.
The Defence Pact
Highlighting the deepening convergence of US-India strategic interests, the two Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a dynamic defence partnership spanning multiple domains. To advance defence ties further, they announced plans to sign this year a new ten-year Framework for the US-India Major Defence Partnership in the 21st Century.
“India’s inventory to date includes C-130J Super Hercules, C-17 Globemaster III, P-8I Poseidon Aircraft; CH-47F Chinooks, MH-60R Seahawks, and AH-64E Apaches; Harpoon Anti-Ship Missiles; M777 Howitzers; and MQ-9Bs. The Leaders determined that the US would expand defence sales and co-production with India to strengthen interoperability and defence industrial cooperation. They announced plans to pursue this year new procurements and co-production arrangements for Javelin Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and Stryker Infantry Combat Vehicles in India to rapidly meet India’s defence requirements.”
What some Indian Channels say
Mainstream Television Channels in India would like their viewers to believe that in signing the extradition of Pakistani terrorist Tahawwur Rana to India to stand trial for masterminding the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, projecting the bilateral trade between the two countries to reach US$ 500 billion by 2030 and allowing New Delhi ‘to deal with Bangladesh on the current situation are all indications of Mr Modi’s victory over Mr Trump.
While the extradition of Rana is a diplomatic achievement for India, there are differing opinions on other more important areas of Mr Modi’s visit.
Before he met with Mr Modi, Mr Trump told White House Reporters that “the allies of the US are worse than its enemies” when it comes to import taxes.
“We had a very unfair system to us. Everybody took advantage of the United States,” he said.
The White House issued a news release that fired a trade shot across the bows of India and other countries. It noted that the average US tariff on agricultural goods was 5% for countries to which Washington had granted Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status. But India’s average applied MFN tariff is 39%. India also charges a 100% tariff on US motorcycles, while we only charge a 2.4% tariff on Indian motorcycles.”
Mr Trump acknowledged the risks of his tariff policy, as economists warned such import taxes could drive up consumer prices.
“Prices could go up somewhat, short term, but prices will also go down,” he said, but argued that the Policy would boost American manufacturing and the country would be ‘flooded with jobs.’
