[In recent months, the United States and India have become embroiled in a trade war, and Trump has complained vociferously about Indian tariffs, even as he has touted his personal rapport with Modi.]
By Joanna Slater
 |
|
President Trump and
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands during
a bilateral meeting at
the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, on
Aug. 26. (Andrew
Harnik/AP)
|
NEW
DELHI — When President Trump
and Narendra Modi met last month in France, their camaraderie was on full
display as they smiled, laughed and even clasped hands in front of reporters.
Now the leaders of the world’s two largest democracies are taking their
relationship to the next level: On Sunday, they will appear together at a rally
in Houston in front of tens of thousands of people.
For the Indian government, Trump’s presence
at the rally is a diplomatic triumph. It marks the first time that any U.S. president
and Indian prime minister have addressed such an event together, and it comes
at a critical juncture.
In recent months, the United States and India
have become embroiled in a trade war, and Trump has complained vociferously
about Indian tariffs, even as he has touted his personal rapport with Modi.
India, meanwhile, has faced criticism for its
recent moves to strip Kashmir of its autonomy and institute a communications
crackdown in the restive Muslim-majority region. The steps sparked tensions
with Pakistan and expressions of concern from the State Department and some
members of Congress, who have urged India to end its detentions of Kashmir’s
political leaders.
Now, with Modi and Trump sharing a stage, the
two countries will emphasize their affinities rather than their differences.
Modi’s supporters can point to Trump’s presence at the rally as “virtual
approval of what [Modi] has done” in Kashmir, said Varghese George, the author
of a new book on India-U.S. relations. It’s “a very big deal for Modi and his
politics.”
Modi entered office in 2014 and recently won
a landslide reelection victory. Like Trump, he has motivated voters with
promises to safeguard the nation and restore its greatness. Modi’s brand of
politics also views India as fundamentally Hindu, rather than a secular
republic as envisaged by its founders.
Modi is very popular at home — his approval
ratings far outstrip Trump’s — and he draws large audiences from the Indian
diaspora when he travels abroad. About 50,000 people are expected at the rally
at Houston’s NRG Stadium, an event aptly titled “Howdy, Modi!” Hundreds of
Indian American groups have helped boost attendance.
Milan Vaishnav, who heads the South Asia
program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said he could not
remember a time when an American president was the guest at a rally for a
foreign leader on U.S. soil. “We have to acknowledge what a spectacle this is,”
he said. “Other than maybe the pope, it’s hard to think of this kind of setting
happening before.”
Trump’s presence at the event is a
“recognition of the importance of the Indian diaspora in the U.S.” and
“definitely a recognition of Prime Minister Modi as a global leader,” said
Vijay Chauthaiwale, who heads foreign affairs and overseas outreach for India’s
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The U.S.-India relationship is anchored by
shared strategic interests, added Chauthaiwale. “There will be some differences
of opinion on certain issues, maybe on trade or maybe even our move in
Kashmir,” he said. “But there is enough maturity to deal with it in a friendly
manner.”
For Trump, the rally provides access to a
pool of voters — Indian Americans — that he hopes to court in next year’s
presidential elections, even if the community tends to lean heavily Democratic.
Officials from both countries have dropped
strong hints that they hope to announce progress toward reducing the current
trade frictions while Modi is in the United States. If so, it would allow Trump
to claim a victory on one of his signature issues.
India’s external affairs minister,
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, told reporters Tuesday that he expected to see some of
the “sharper edges” in the U.S.-India relationship “addressed in some form in
the not-too-distant future.”
Experts said that they believed that any imminent
trade agreement would probably be modest. On the trade front, the two countries
are “trying to undo damage and stop new damage, rather than do exciting,
positive things,” said Richard M. Rossow, a senior adviser at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “You’re at the hospital, not
the gym.”
Rossow said that India might make concessions
on issues such as its price caps on certain medical devices and possibly ease
import restrictions on some agricultural commodities. The United States,
meanwhile, could indicate its openness to reinstating preferential treatment
for certain Indian imports — a status Trump revoked in May.
After appearing onstage with Trump, Modi will
travel to New York for the opening session of the United Nations General
Assembly. He is scheduled to deliver an address there Sept. 27, his first such
appearance since 2014. He also will receive an award from the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation honoring progress in global health for his “Clean
India” campaign that has constructed millions of toilets across the country.
The award from the foundation has become a
focus for protesters seeking to draw attention to India’s actions in Kashmir.
They recently presented a petition with 100,000 signatures at the foundation’s
headquarters in Seattle urging it to retract the honor, which it declined to
do.
“India’s a big, complex case, and some of the
recent things, I think, people are really questioning, rightly,” Bill Gates
said in an interview with The Washington Post’s Ishaan Tharoor. But the award
from the foundation is about India’s work on sanitation, Gates said, which has
helped combat diseases that kill hundreds of thousands of people a year. “We
think the head of government that took these moves on sanitation, that’s worthy
of note.”
Read more
