Ahead of his meeting with US President Donald Trump in the White House, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US Vice President J D Vance in Paris and discussed how the United States can assist India in diversifying its energy sourcing through investments in US nuclear technology.
The bilateral meeting took place on the sidelines of the AI Action summit before Modi left for the US to meet President Trump, less than a month after his return to the Oval Office. The Prime Minister, who left Marseille for Washington DC, will reach early Thursday India time.
In Paris, Modi and Vance “discussed topics of mutual interest, including how the United States can assist India in diversifying its energy sourcing through investments in clean, reliable US nuclear technology,” the White House said in a statement.
In a post on X, Modi said Vance and he “had a great conversation on various subjects”.
The White House statement said, “The two leaders, along with the Second Lady of the United States Usha Vance, enjoyed coffee together” and “Prime Minister Modi graciously shared gifts with the Vance children and wished the Vice President’s son, Vivek, a happy birthday”.
Officials say this is the earliest that an Indian Prime Minister has visited the White House – President Trump ends his third week in office. Only a handful of foreign leaders have visited White House since his inauguration on January 20 — Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Japan PM Shigeru Ishiba and Jordan’s King Abdullah. Even the British PM, who usually is among the first foreign leaders, hasn’t visited yet.
For New Delhi, the strategic calculus is that they need to have a face-to-face between the two leaders given that they enjoy some personal rapport from Trump’s previous term between 2017 and 2021.
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Immigration and tariffs are expected to dominate the conversation – the Trump 2.0 administration has been aggressive on both the issues.
And that was seen in the deportation of 104 illegal Indian immigrants flown to India in a military aircraft, and with handcuffs and shackles.
About 800 such Indians – 487 are presumed Indian citizens and another 298 who are in the final stages of verification — will be deported soon.
Delhi has said that it is ready to take back illegal Indian immigrants, and has “registered concerns” on the mistreatment — short of lodging a protest.
India is also hoping that the strategic alignment on China will continue – Trump had described China as a strategic threat and revived the Quad in his first term.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
