Earl (02-24-2020), Grokmaster (02-24-2020), Stretch (02-24-2020), Truth Detector (02-24-2020)
giving welcoming speeches in the worlds largest cricket stadium.
Trump is laying it on thick, Modi was effusive about all the Trumps.
Trump actually pronounced an Indian name of a swami!
The Trump-Modi rally on Monday will be the first event in the newly renovated Sardar Patel Stadium, the largest cricket stadium in the world, with a capacity of about 110,000, according to the Times of India. That is approximately the size of some of the largest college football stadiums in the United States.
The rally, named "Namaste, Trump," is a sequel to the "Howdy, Modi" rally Trump and the prime minister attended in Houston last September.
With little in the way of official proclamations expected to come from Trump's excursion to the subcontinent, the rally will likely be the highlight of the trip, with Trump taking advantage of the chance to speak before a large, adoring crowd in another country.
Trump and First Lady Melania are joined by a 12-person delegation
The president, who is joined by his wife Melania on the India visit, will also bring a 12-person official delegation, including some of the highest-ranking economic and foreign policy officials in his administration:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/tru...t-what-to-know
I don't know how you were diverted / You were perverted too
I don't know how you were inverted / No one alerted you
Earl (02-24-2020), Grokmaster (02-24-2020), Stretch (02-24-2020), Truth Detector (02-24-2020)
portraits of U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi painted on a wall ahead of Trump's visit, in Ahmadabad, India
Trump and Modi are likely to discuss trade barriers between the two nations, the disputed Kashmir region between India and Pakistan, barriers making it difficult for Muslims to become Indian citizens and more.
Specifically, both countries think there is room to grow on energy.
They will also talk about national defense and security concerns.
But despite the lack of worked out consensus between the U.S. and India on multiple issues, which they will discuss in several meetings, the two nations share strategic goals that make them optimistic they can align. Both nations wish to contain Chinese expansionism, crack down on Islamic terrorism and maintain peace between India and Pakistan.
Earl (02-24-2020), Grokmaster (02-24-2020), Stretch (02-24-2020), Truth Detector (02-24-2020)
If his Indian hosts can help it, Trump probably won’t see a slum as they’ve ordered for a 400-metre wall to be built along his route to block the view of where poor people live.
Authorities in Ahmedabad expect to spend around 800 million to 850 million Indian rupees ($11-12 million) on preparations for the visit by the American president that is likely to last around three hours,
Stretch (02-24-2020), Truth Detector (02-24-2020)
Any mention of when the Trade War starts?
Earl (02-24-2020)
Grokmaster (02-24-2020)
India, U.S. struggle to bridge trade disputes as Trump visits
https://www.inquirer.com/news/nation...-20200222.html
American dairy farmers, distillers and drugmakers have been eager to break into India,
the world’s seventh-biggest economy but a tough-to-penetrate colossus of 1.3 billion people.
For now, the failure to reach a deal, despite the pressure of an approaching summit, may reflect not so much the differences between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the similarities. Both men are fierce nationalists who favor protecting their own producers over opening their markets to foreign competition.
Long notorious for high trade barriers and a cumbersome bureaucracy, India had for the past two decades or three decades been slowly reforming and opening its economy. Under Modi, that trend has reversed.“You’ve got two leaders who are looking at trade very much as a zero-sum game,’’ said Richard Rossow, a specialist in U.S.-India relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
One of Trump’s first acts was to withdraw from a 12-country Asia-Pacific free trade pact negotiated by the Obama administration. Similarly, Modi last year abandoned another Pacific Rim trade agreement, worried that India would be overwhelmed by Chinese imports.
Modi may be even more sensitive about exposing Indian companies to foreign competition because his country is in an economic slump. The International Monetary Fund last month scaled back its expectation for India's growth this year to 5.8% from the 7% it had expected back in October. Indian loan companies, struggling to collect on bad debts, have reduced lending, thereby squeezing Indian consumers.
The Trump administration escalated the pressure on India last year by denying some of its products preferential duty-free entry to the American market. In effect, that move raised tariffs on Indian imports.
Grokmaster (02-24-2020), Truth Detector (02-24-2020)
The administration is annoyed by a deficit in the trade of goods with India that last year reached $23.3 billion. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative last year argued that India had failed to provide assurances that it would give U.S. products “equitable and reasonable access” to its markets.
The thinking was that India would make concessions to regain its duty-free benefits. But India hasn’t yielded yet.
“We had hoped that India would respond with a little more urgency,’’ said Roger Murry, senior policy adviser at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
Negotiations between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and India's commerce minister, Piyush Goyal, seemed to be advancing until about a week ago. Yet they failed to bridge their differences.
“I would have thought they would have been able to pull off a mini-deal,’’ said Safiya Ghori-Ahmad, an India specialist at the consulting firm McLarty Associates. “It seems there are a lot of sticky issues.’’
One irritant is that just as negotiators were scrambling to conclude an agreement, India this month made another lurch toward protectionism. It issued an annual budget that raises import taxes on everything from cheese to shoes to toy tricycles.
The two sides have also squabbled over access to India’s dairy market. A predominately Hindu nation, India prohibits, on religious grounds, dairy imports that do not derive from cows that have been raised on vegetarian diets. The U.S. dairy industry argues that such restrictions are scientifically unnecessary and burdensome.
The administration has complained, too, about Indian restrictions on imported medical devices. In 2017, Indian officials imposed price controls on coronary stents and knee implants, forcing American companies to sell those products at a loss.
U.S. distilleries also have a big stake in a more open Indian economy. India is by far the world’s largest market for whiskey. In 2018, Indian drinkers downed nearly 1.7 billion liters of whiskey, worth $25 billion, accounting for half the world's consumption and out-drinking Americans by a factor of three, according to Euromonitor. But facing 150% tariffs on imported spirits, U.S. distilleries sold just $7 million worth whiskey to India in 2018, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
“There is no doubt that India has turned protectionist during the last two to three years,” said Columbia University’s Arvind Panagariya, a former Indian government official and a specialist in India’s economic policymaking. “And that is surely making matters more difficult by hardening Indian positions.’’
Still, Modi puts a high value on a strategic partnership with the United States, especially in the face of an increasingly assertive China. For that reason, he may be willing to make trade concessions for stronger ties with Washington.
“I remain optimistic about an agreement in due course,’’ Panagariya said.
But Sadanand Dhume, resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said he was discouraged by the failure of negotiators to reach a modest, confidence-building deal before the Trump-Modi summit.
“The ambitions were small to begin with,’’ Dhume said. “If a presidential visit cannot force these two countries to get over a small speed bump, that really does not augur well’’ for a more ambitious trade agreement.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/nation...-20200222.html
Earl (02-24-2020), Grokmaster (02-24-2020), Stretch (02-24-2020), Truth Detector (02-24-2020)
Coronavirus and India.
"The worst may yet not come to pass. Only three cases of infection have been confirmed in India, whereas Singapore has reported 75, Hong Kong 57 and Thailand 35. Still, there is genuine concern that cases are not being identified and reported accurately. The World Health Organisation has declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, which means any country could be at risk. India, with all its vulnerabilities, could be a prime candidate."
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opini...waiting-happen
Earl (02-24-2020), Truth Detector (02-24-2020)
Just another campaign rally for the publicity.
About the closest Trump gets to actually being a president.
Earl (02-24-2020)
Earl (02-24-2020)
Funny, how we used to admire countries like India - and the USA, of course!
Earl (02-24-2020)
Stretch (02-24-2020), Truth Detector (02-24-2020)
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