Narendra Modi is expected to offer Donald Trump deals on trade, energy and defence in a meeting the Indian prime minister hopes will help fend off US action on tariffs and migration.
India is billing Thursday’s meeting in Washington, their first since Trump’s inauguration, as a warm meeting of like-minded leaders. However, analysts and people briefed on the trip say Modi will seek to placate a president who has previously called India a “tariff king” and “big abuser”.
While the world’s fifth-largest economy is not a top global exporter, it has high average tariffs and ranks 10th among countries with which the US has a deficit. Between January and November 2024, India’s trade surplus with the US was worth $35bn.