Trump invites Modi to discuss Terrorism, H-1B Visa and more

It seems the inevitable has happened. Even after the recent public outcry by President Trump against India and many other countries with regard to the Paris Climate agreement, The US president has invited PM Modi to Washington.

Trump had accused particularly developing nations including India of extracting billions of dollars in foreign aid from developed nations under the garb of a climate treaty.

Nonetheless, it's a sign of the growing might of India as not only a regional superpower, but an international one. Modi is set to be the guest of honor at Washington from June 25^th. Trump has spoken to Modi over the phone three times since he became President since January 20^th of this year.

TRUMPS AGENDA

Trump clearly has cross border terrorism on his mind, especially with his strong policy against travelers from Islamic countries. And Trump clearly needs an ally in India to re-iterate his stand. This is good news for India, since this will cement Modi's position against Pakistan's cross border terrorist activities. Apart from having common concerns about terrorism, the meet ihas been speculated to further strategic ties between the 2 countries, trade ties and also solve the vexed issue of H-1B temporary visas. In response to the clamp down of the H-1B visas, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman, had hit back at the Washington. The minister had stated that it was bad for trade and the effect will be not just on Indian companies, but also on American companies operating out of Indian soil.

As a precursor to this, the US National Security Advisor Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster had visited India in April earlier this year. He had lengthy talks with PM Modi and India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and called India as a major defence partner of the US.

PM Modi had a total of 8 meetings with Trumps' predecessor, Obama. Obama had reportedly answered that the only thing that would keep him awake at night was the issue of Pakistan. The current hawkish Trump administration's concerns about terrorism are surely not lesser.