Donald Trump just threw a bender at Narendra Modi ahead of the G-20 meeting in Japan

• The American President tweeted saying he will raise the issue of high tariffs in India on American goods in his conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• Donald Trump's tweet will cast a doubt on the possibility of a thaw in India's bilateral ties with the US.
• India and US are at crossroads over many issues from visa, defence deals to oil purchases from Iran, to name just a few.
• US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar put up a cordial front after talks on Wednesday.

India and US have differences over many issues-- H-1B visas, India's defence deals with Russia and oil purchases from Iran, tariffs to name a few-- but US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar put up a cordial front after the bilateral talks on Wednesday (June 26).

If that had triggered any hopes of a middle ground between the two large economies in a world fraught with risks, US President Donald Trump was quick to throw in a spanner.


This tweet with its confrontational tone could reduce the hopes of a thaw in India's frosty bilateral ties with the US.

The talks between Donald Trump and Narendra Modi at the sidelines of the G-20 meeting was never going to be easy."There's a nagging misconception. The distrust of earlier era still lingers. But that is not true. Just look at what has already happened. You have made hard choices to cut off oil imports from Iran and move away from purchasing Venezuelan oil," Pompeo said yesterday.

After his meeting with Jaishankar, Pompeo said the two sides did not even discuss the contentious issue of India's demand for waiver allowing the country to buy oil from Iran. Pompeo was quick to underscore the US point of view by calling Iran the 'world's largest state-sponsor of terrorism'. This would mean doing business with Iran will be akin to helping terrorism.

Between US' trade war with China, and the tension in the middle east, global trade has taken a severe knock, and India is not immune to it. At the same time, domestic economy is in a bad shape. Another tariff war directly with the US would be a debilitating for the world's fastest-growing economy, India. The only hope for India is that Modi's talks with Trump seem less ominous than the US President's tweet.

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India and US did not discuss waiver to buy oil from Iran at Pompeo's meeting with Jaishankar