The meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, seemed to reflect a thaw in the ties between the two countries that have been warring over trade and rising energy concerns.
At an informal dinner held later in the day, Modi and Trump were seated beside each other. Photographs showed a smiling Trump engaged in conversation with Modi, an indication of bonhomie between the two leaders.
Apart from a keen discussion on issues plaguing both the sides, experts are of the opinion that there was a marked shift in Trump’s tone and tenor compared to his tweets from just a day before the Japan-America-India trilateral and the bilateral talks between the US President and Modi.
Trump had on Thursday tweeted that he looked forward to speaking with Modi about a recent increase in its already high tariffs against the United States. “I look forward to speaking with Prime Minister Modi about the fact that India, for years having put very high Tariffs against the United States, just recently increased the Tariffs even further. This is unacceptable and the Tariffs must be withdrawn!” he said.
The US President has earlier too hit out against India’s tariffs, saying even though the country reduced its import tariff on American motorcycles from 100 per cent to 50 per cent, it is still too high and not acceptable to him.
Friday’s meeting, however, reflected a change. Experts said Trump used the word ‘positive’ multiple times during his interaction and refused to get drawn into what he expected of India on trade, a contentious issue between the two economies.
At remarks before US-Japan-India trilateral & before bilat w/ Modi, Trump has v different tone from tweet yesterday. Used the word "positive" multiple times, refused to get drawn into what he expected of India on trade, said US-India relations never better, expect big deals pic.twitter.com/jBzoSDtbjN— Tanvi Madan (@tanvi_madan) 28 June 2019
The US President also said relations between the two countries had never been better. “We have big things to announce. In terms of trade, in terms of manufacturing, we would be discussing 5G. I congratulate you and I look forward to talks,” Trump said.
“We have become great friends and our countries have never been closer. I can say that with surety. We will work together in many ways including military, we'll be discussing trade today,” he added.
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