US president Donald Trump called for India to strengthen its ties with America at a rally to kick off a two-day visit to the south-Asian country, against the backdrop of growing frictions with New Delhi over trade protectionism.
India will sign a deal on Tuesday to buy $3bn worth of US-made advanced naval helicopters, Mr Trump announced, as he urged India to look to the US as its “premier defence partner”.
“The US looks forward to providing India with some of the best, most feared military equipment on the planet,” the president told India’s prime minister Narendra Modi and an estimated 110,000 Indians at the rally in the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, the heartland of Mr Modi’s political base, in the western state of Gujarat.