India does not rule out Modi's meeting with Trump during his US visit

New Delhi: India on Thursday did not rule out the possibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting former American President Donald Trump during his forthcoming visit to the United States.

“We will keep updating you about the meetings,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said when journalists asked about the possibility of the prime minister’s meeting with the Republican Party’s candidate for the November 5 presidential election in the US. Trump, himself, had said at a campaign event in Flint, Michigan on Tuesday that Modi would meet him next week.

Misri also refrained from confirming if the prime minister would have a meeting with US Vice President and Democratic Party’s candidate for the presidential polls, Kamala Harris, who was born to an Indian American mother and a Jamaican American father.

“We are trying to schedule many meetings with the prime minister. I will not be able to tell you about any specific meeting – whether the meeting has been finalised or not,” the foreign secretary said, adding: “We are looking from all angles as to how much time we have and with whom we can hold meetings. We will keep updating you about the meetings.”

India is a “very big abuser” when it comes to its trade relations with the US, Trump, who is seeking to return to the Oval Office at the White House, said on Tuesday, adding that Modi would meet him next week. He criticised India for imposing high tariffs on imports from the US. He referred to the tariff barriers imposed by Brazil and China too. He also articulated his policy of responding with reciprocal tariffs on exports of India, Brazil, and China to the US.

“So, when India, which is a very big abuser. He (Modi) happens to be coming to meet me next week, and Modi, he's fantastic. I mean, fantastic man. A lot of these leaders are fantastic,” said Trump.

If Modi meets only Trump without meeting Harris, it may be seen by the Democrats as a sign of New Delhi’s bias toward the Republican Party’s candidate. Trump’s campaign team is likely to use his meeting with Modi to woo the Indian American voters, the majority of whom have been traditionally voting for the Democratic Party.

The prime minister is set to visit the US from September 21 to 23. He will meet US President Joe Biden at Wilmington in Delaware on September 21, when they will also be joined by the Japanese and Australian prime ministers, Fumio Kishida and Anthony Albanese, for the fourth in-person summit of the Quad. Modi will also travel to New York to address the Indian American community on September 22 and participate in the Summit for the Future, which United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will host, Misri said in New Delhi on Thursday.

If Modi meets Trump, but not Harris, it may be seen by the Democrats as an indication of the bias of the government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi toward the Republican Party’s candidate in the US presidential elections. Trump’s campaign team is likely to use his meeting with Modi to woo the Indian American voters, the majority of whom have been traditionally voting for the Democratic Party.

Trump had repeatedly embarrassed Modi during his term as president of the US. He had not only personally ridiculed the prime minister on the issue of high tariffs on Harley Davidson motorcycles in India, but also belittled New Delhi’s support to development projects in Afghanistan. He had scrapped the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) privilege for the exporters of India in the US.

He had even claimed that Modi had requested him to play the role of a mediator between India and Pakistan and between India and China to help resolve the dispute over Kashmir. He had kept repeating the claim despite rebuttals from New Delhi.

The two leaders, however, had put up a show of camaraderie at the “Howdy! Modi” event in Houston in September 2019 as well as in its sequel “Namaste Trump” in Ahmedabad in February 2020.

Modi’s ‘Aab Ki Baar Trump Sarkar’ comment at the “Howdy! Modi” event had triggered a controversy as it had been perceived by many as an attempt to nudge the Indian American community to vote for Trump and give him a second term in the White House. New Delhi, however, had later clarified that its relations with Washington DC had been enjoying bipartisan support in the US and India had harboured no intention to interfere in the politics of America.

In April 2020, Trump had warned of “retaliation” if India had not allowed the export of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for Covid-19 patients in the US. Trump had kept on talking about his friendship with Modi and even claimed the support of the Indian American community ahead of the 2020 presidential elections in the US. He had alleged during his first debate with his rival Joe Biden that the Government of India had not been making public the actual number of people who had died of Covid-19 in the country. He had gone on to say during the second debate that the air had been filthy in India.