India PM Narendra Modi to meet Donald Trump amid tariff, migration concerns

Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington comes as India delivers a series of quick concessions to President Trump aimed at warding off any potentially devastating trade war with the US.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet President Donald Trump in Washington on February 13, making him one of the first foreign leaders to visit Washington since the US leader took office.

Ahead of the visit, Modi has delivered a rapid series of concessions to the White House on issues core to Trump’s agenda, offering an early picture of how New Delhi plans to deal with the new president as he slaps tariffs on rivals and allies alike.

Concessions include the first-ever overhaul to India’s tariff regime, which include sweeping cuts to duties on imports from motorcycles to satellite ground installations. It follows New Delhi’s pledge to accept thousands of unlawful migrants from the US and maintain the US dollar as its trading currency.

In recent years, India and the US have bolstered cooperation in areas including defense, technology-sharing and nuclear cooperation, as Washington looks to cultivate New Delhi as as regional bulwark against China. India has won new factories from US companies such as Apple Inc. and Micron Technology Inc.

The US is India’s largest trading partner and two-way trade between the two countries surpassed $118 billion in 2024, with India posting a trade surplus of $36.8 billion, according to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF).