Trump in India: President and First Lady Plant Tree at New Delhi Gandhi Memorial

U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump planted a tree at the New Delhi Gandhi memorial. It’s the U.S. President’s 2nd and final day in India on a state visit.

Trump met his Indian counterpart in New Delhi Tuesday, amid growing tensions between rival protesters in the capital and with a host of critical issues from defense to regional security on the agenda.

Now that the U.S.-India trade agreement looks likely to be pushed until after the U.S. election, news of a $3 billion military deal has boosted hopes the visit will result in real progress on defense ties.

There is also the possibility of a pact on security in the Indo-Pacific -- an issue front and center for the two nations as they work to counter the growing influence of China in the region. A joint statement is expected after the meetings between the two leaders and officials on both sides.

”I would look out for specific comments on the Indo-Pacific. Also what language the statement uses on trade,” said Tanvi Madan, a senior fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy in the Foreign Policy program, and director of The India Project at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. “That’s where the strategic narrative will be -- in the joint statement.”

Helicopter Deal

Last week, India’s cabinet cleared $2.6 billion purchase from Lockheed Martin Corp. of 24 multi-role MH-60R Seahawk maritime helicopters to Indian navy. The State Department has also approved a potential sale to India of $1.8 billion in arms, including air-defense radars and missiles, rifles and other equipment, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced.

“Both the United States and India want to see an Asia that isn’t dominated by any one power,” Alyssa Ayres, who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia during the Obama administration and is now at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Bloomberg TV. “That has been a pillar underlying a lot of the strategic and defense cooperation that’s grown so well over the course of the last recent years.”

Trump repeated his pledge that there would be a significant trade deal with India in a speech on Monday, but then later told reporters he was in “no rush” to complete it.

Officials have tried to hammer out a modest trade deal opening up India to U.S. agricultural products and medical devices in return for the restoration of preferential export status that Trump stripped from India in 2019.

The U.S. president is scheduled to hold a press conference separately later on Tuesday.

“If they don’t resolve the trade question the friction will eventually spill over into the security side,” Madan said. “Has the afterglow of the Motera Stadium lasted even to the next day?” The American leader was welcomed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Monday by large crowds lining the streets and extravagant displays of local dance and music. He later inaugurated and shared the stage with Modi at a packed cricket stadium at an event touted as “Namaste Trump.”

Violence Continues

Just hours before Trump arrived in Delhi on Monday evening violent clashes broke out in the capital’s northeast, as rival groups protested the country’s contentious religion-based citizenship law. Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters and imposed curfew-like restrictions across the area, with demonstrators both for and against the law throwing stones and setting vehicles and shops on fire, television footages showed.

The protests continued to simmer on Tuesday and the Press Trust of India reported the death toll in the violence had risen to seven.

The new religion-based citizenship act, which was passed by an overwhelming majority in the Parliament, fast-tracks citizenship for religious minorities from three neighboring countries, but excludes Muslims. Protesters say the law undermines India’s secular constitution while the government says its aim is to protect persecuted minorities. The push back against the law has been the most significant challenge for Modi since he first came to power in 2014.

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