PM Modi Holds Bilateral Talks With US President Donald Trump On The Sidelines Of G20 Summit In Osaka

The two leaders met shortly after the Japan-America-India trilateral meeting during which Modi highlighted "the importance India attaches to" the grouping.

Osaka: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held bilateral talks with US President Donald Trump here ahead of the formal opening of the G-20 Summit. The two leaders met shortly after the Japan-America-India trilateral meeting during which PM Modi highlighted 'the importance India attaches to' the grouping. The Modi-Trump meeting assumes significance as the US president, championing his 'America First' policy, has been a vocal critic of India for levying 'tremendously high' duties on US products. According to reports, both the leaders discussed various bilateral and global issues including Iran, 5G communications networks, trade and defence ahead of the G-20 Summit. PM Modi also thanked Trump for expressing his 'love towards India' in a letter recently delivered by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The Prime Minister said that he wants to discuss Iran, 5G, bilateral relations and defence ties with Trump. The US President congratulated PM Modi on his election victory and said that the two countries would work together in many areas including military.

Today’s meeting of the JAI Trilateral was a productive one. We had extensive discussions on the Indo-Pacific region, improving connectivity and infrastructure development.

Grateful to PM @AbeShinzo and President @realDonaldTrump for sharing their views as well. pic.twitter.com/FruUecBySB — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 28, 2019

"It was a big victory, you deserve it, you have done a great job. We have big things to announce. In terms of trade, in terms of manufacturing, we would be discussing 5G. I congratulate you and I look forward to talks," news agency PTI quoted Trump as saying. "We have become great friends and our countries have never been closer. I can say that with surety. We will work together in many ways including military, we'll be discussing trade today," he said. This was Modi's first meeting with Trump after the BJP's landslide win in the parliamentary election. India has raised tariffs on 28 items, including almond, pulses and walnut, exported from the US in retaliation to America's withdrawal of preferential access for Indian products. The Trump administration wants Prime Minister Modi to lower the trade barriers and embrace "fair and reciprocal" trade. Before his arrival in Japan on Thursday, Trump tweeted, "I look forward to speaking with Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi about the fact that India, for years having put very high Tariffs against the United States, just recently increased the Tariffs even further. This is unacceptable and the Tariffs must be withdrawn!" This was Modi's first meeting with Trump after the BJP's landslide win in the parliamentary election.

I look forward to speaking with Prime Minister Modi about the fact that India, for years having put very high Tariffs against the United States, just recently increased the Tariffs even further. This is unacceptable and the Tariffs must be withdrawn!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019

In the past, President Trump has also criticised India's high import tariff on the iconic Harley Davidson motorcycles as 'unacceptable' though acknowledging that his 'good friend' Prime Minister Modi has reduced it from 100 per cent to 50 per cent. Last February, India slashed the customs duty on imported motorcycles like Harley-Davidson to 50 per cent after Trump called it "unfair" and threatened to increase the tariff on import of Indian bikes to the US. On June 21 last year, Indian government decided to impose these duties in retaliation to the US decision of significantly hiking customs duties on certain steel and aluminium products. America, in March last year, imposed 25 per cent tariff on steel and a 10 per cent import duty on aluminium products.