Issue Brief on “Modi Visits United States”

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The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, after completing his four nation tour of Europe embarked on yet another trip – this time to the capital of the most important country of the world, the US. The two days visit that took place on June 25-26, 2017 was at the invitation of newly elected American President, Mr. Donald Trump.  

Prior to the visit, there was a lot of scepticism in India on whether Trump would follow the footsteps of President Obama and choose to work closely with India or takes a totally different path. This scepticism existed because though on some issues, there were some very positive signals conveyed by Trump before the elections took place but on other issues, Trump was seen as adopting policies, which could put a reverse gear on Indo-US relations. For example, during his election campaign, Trump had called Modi a “great man”[1] and promised that under his administration, India and the US would be “best friends”.[2] Prior to this visit by Modi, both leaders had telephonic conversation on at least three different occasions. First call was made by Modi to congratulate Trump on winning the elections. The subsequent calls were made by Trump, one after assuming his new role as the President of the US and second to congratulate Modi on winning State elections in Uttar Pradesh, with a decisive majority that was seen in 30 years.[3]

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