US President Donald Trump and PM Narendra Modi will meet on February 24 and 25
US President Donald Trump today tweeted he is looking forward to going to India to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Great honor, I think? Mark Zuckerberg recently stated that "Donald J. Trump is Number 1 on Facebook. Number 2 is Prime Minister Modi of India." Actually, I am going to India in two weeks. Looking forward to it!" President Trump tweeted.
The meeting of the two leaders is significant as they aim at rebuilding bonds between the world's largest democracies.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will be in India on a two-day visit on February 24 and 25. They are scheduled to visit Ahmedabad and New Delhi.
Donald Trump is expected to get a roaring welcome by lakhs of people when he arrives in Ahmedabad. He along with PM Modi are expected to give a speech in front of thousands of people at the newly build Motera stadium, billed as the largest cricket stadium in the world.
Industry analysts are, however, keeping a close watch on whether the trade disputes between the two countries would be resolved.
India has offered to partially open up its poultry and dairy markets in a bid for a limited trade deal during President Trump's first official visit to the country this month, news agency Reuters reported on Friday. India, the world's largest milk-producing nation, has traditionally restricted dairy imports to protect the livelihoods of 80 million rural households involved in the industry.
In 2019, President Trump suspended India's special trade designation that dated back to 1970s, after PM Modi put price caps on medical devices, such as cardiac stents and knee implants, and introduced new data localization requirements and e-commerce restrictions.
Donald Trump's trip to India has raised hopes that he would restore some of the country's US trade preferences, in exchange for tariff reductions and other concessions.
The United States is India's second-largest trade partner after China, and bilateral goods and services trade climbed to a record $142.6 billion in 2018. The United States had a $23.2 billion goods trade deficit in 2019 with India, its 9th largest trading partner in goods.