While most of the nitty-gritties are still under wrap, Donald Trump’s India visit hold greater significance for him in the election year. (Photo Credit: File Photo)
New Delhi:
Amid tensions over Iran and an impending impeachment trial, there’s a strong buzz that US President Donald Trump is likely to visit India in February next month. The back-door negotiations were reported by The Hindustan Times on Tuesday. The latest report by The HT says that officials from both India and the US are talking over the crucial visit. It should be noted that the US President was invited for this year’s Republic Day celebrations as the Chief Guest. However, he had said that he won’t be able to make it to the grand event due to ‘scheduling constraints’. Prime Minister Modi had invited the US President to India during his visit to Washington. Trumps’ predecessor Barack Obama had also attended the Republic Day event in 2015.
While most of the nitty-gritties are still under wrap, Trump’s India visit hold greater significance for him in the election year. Also, the case in point is the impeachment trial, which is likely to commence some point in January. General consensus is the Republican-controlled Senate is likely to acquit Trump. However, nothing is set in stone. Or Trump, India visit is linked to a quick trade deal with the Narendra Modi government.
Given the global situation, Trump would like to steer the American economy into better condition. For that, both India and China are key catalysts. While the grand trade deal with China is likely to be formalised by January 20, the pact with India will be more short-term in nature, the HT report said.
Beijing's trade envoy Vice Premier Liu He is scheduled to visit the US next week to sign the interim agreement's "Phase One", marking a pause in the nearly two-year trade war between the two sides. "We're signing, as you know, a very big deal among many other things with China probably on January 15," Trump told reporters at a White House event in Washington. Liu will lead a delegation to the US. The "Phase One" of the trade deal, Trump said, is "a big percentage of the deal". "Some would say half. Some would say a little less or a little more than half, but it's a tremendous percentage. It's pretty much all for the farmers, also bankers," he said responding to a question.
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro will be the chief guest at the 2020 Republic Day parade. Former French President Francois Hollande was the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in 2016. In 2017, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of United Arab Emirates took part in the Republic Day celebrations as the chief guest.
The year 2018 was historic as leaders of the 10 ASEAN nations attended the event as chief guests. In 2019, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was in attendance as the chief guest. He was the second South African president, after Nelson Mandela, to attend the grand event as its chief guest.
