'Don't want to rush': India on US trade deal during Trump visit

A US President Donald Trump said he was looking to make a "tremendous" trade deal on his visit to India, New Delhi on Friday said it does not want to "rush into a deal as the issues involved are complicated". 

Trump is scheduled to travel to Ahmedabad, Agra and New Delhi on February 24 and 25. He is accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump, his daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump and some members of his Cabinet. 

Speaking at the Hope for Prisoners Graduation Ceremony in Las Vegas on Thursday, "We're going to India, and we may make a tremendous deal there."

Speaking on the proposed trade deal between India and the US, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "We have been engaging with the United States on trade talks for some time. We hope to reach an understanding with an outcome that strikes the right balance for both sides. We do not want to rush into a deal as the issues involved are complicated with many decisions potentially having real impact on people’s lives and long-term economic consequences. We do not want to create artificial deadlines."

"The India-US relationship is progressing from strength to strength. Our trade has already been growing at more than 10% per annum for the past two years, our trade deficit has been declining steadily. Our trade will become even more balanced with increasing imports of US oil and gas, and purchase of large numbers of civil aircraft by India over the next few years. The US is now our 6th largest source of crude oil imports, while we have become the US’s 4th largest customer of crude oil," he added.

The spokesperson said the visit of President Trump "has to be seen in the context of reaching a certain stage of maturity in the relationship, regular meetings between the leaders of two democracies and the growing comfort level between our two countries."

Both leaders - President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi - have personally invested in this relationship, he said. 

"Over the years, the canvas of our relationship has expanded to include several new areas. We enjoy a broad level of support from the executive branch as well as bipartisan support by the Congress.  There has been growing intensity in ministerial visits.  We had a very successful and outcome rich second meeting of India-US 2+2 Ministerial in December last year," he said. 

On the defence front, the relations have expanded by concluding enabling agreements like LEMOA and COMCASA, he said, adding that an annual joint tri-services HADR exercise named Tiger Triumph has also started. 

"The USA is India’s largest trading partner in goods and services and it is growing at a healthy pace. There is growing cooperation in counter-terrorism.  The Indo-Pacific, we have established a promising partnership.  We expect that the talks will deepen our engagement in all the above areas. It would also give an opportunity to exchange views on regional and global issues of shared interests. Overall, our global strategic partnership will be further strengthened," he said while talking about key deliverables of the visit of President Trump.

On Space Cooperation with the US, the MEA spokesperson said, "India and the US have a long history of cooperation in civil space arena including earth observation, satellite navigation, and space exploration. There is a Joint Working Group to regularly review cooperation and identify new areas. Currently, our sides are cooperating in Mars exploration, heliophysics, and human spaceflight. On the commercial front, ISRO has launched 209 satellites from US, onboard PSLV, as co-passengers."
 
"ISRO and NASA are together building a microwave remote sensing satellite with dual-frequency (L and S bands) Synthetic Aperture Radar. NASA will contribute L-band Radar, while ISRO will contribute S-band Radar and the satellite. This joint mission is planned to be realised for launch in 2022. This is the world’s first dual-frequency SAR satellite," he said. 
 
ISRO is also working with the US Government agencies for cooperation in the safety of spaceflight through the exchange of situational awareness information, he added. 

On the issue of nuclear cooperation with the US, Kumar said, "Westinghouse and NPCIL are in discussion to build six 1100 MW reactors at Kovvada, AP. Following the resolution of Westinghouse’s bankruptcy issues, the two sides are in discussion regarding the division of responsibility of the work. NPCIL has visited the US reference plant to understand Westinghouse’s modular construction methodology."