United States President Donald Trump has arrived in India and was welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his home state of Gujarat. The two leaders embraced as Trump stepped off Air Force One.
But the bonhomie aside, what will this visit achieve; with many critics saying this is simply a victory lap for the US President coming on the back of an acquittal in the impeachment hearing.
The Indian government has pulled out all stops to welcome Trump on his first visit to New Delhi.
In Ahmedabad, Trump was accorded a grand welcome and the two leaders then spoke at a rally of more than 100 000 people.
On Tuesday, both leaders will sit down for delegation level talks followed by a lunch hosted by Modi in Trump’s honour. There will then be a joint press address and the announcement of deals signed on this visit.
In the video below, SABC correspondent Ishan Garg outlines the reasons for Donald Trump’s visit to India.
This visit is important because of the timing; this is the lowest that Indo-US ties have been in nearly two decades because of an ongoing trade dispute. Trump has often referred to India as a ‘tariff king’, said that the import duties here are too high and market access for US companies not significant enough.
India says it’s willing to sign a limited trade deal, but it cannot afford to give too much market access to America. It says that the US’ main demand has been that India buy more than $5 billion worth of agricultural products and that will be tough for India to do because farming employs over 50% of India’s population.
Critics in India say the US is driving a hard bargain.
That notwithstanding, the two leaders will have some deals being signed. India’s expected to buy billions of dollars’ worth of military hardware from the US.
There could also be an announcement on the US’ Indo-Pacific outreach, a policy that has New Delhi at its heart.
In the video below, US President Donald Trump addresses a rally of more than 100 000 people in India.
