'India coming to the table': Donald Trump aide Peter Navarro ahead of trade talks

Hours ahead of the bilateral trade negotiation between India and the United States set to restart on Tuesday, US White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro claimed that India was coming to the negotiating table with the US.

“India is coming to the table. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent out a very conciliatory, nice, constructive tweet, and President Trump responded to that. We’ll see how this works,” he said in an interview to CNBC as reported ANI.

Navarro in the interview said that the countries are still negotiating on the trade issue, and are working on ‘trade barriers’. He also criticised India for its ties with Russia and China.

“Then they use that money to buy Russian oil, and then the Russians use that to buy weapons. And then we, as taxpayers, have to pay more for this, for the defence of Ukraine. And so how can that be? And watching Modi on a stage with China, which has been its long-term existential threat. And Putin, that was an interesting stretch. I don’t think he felt comfortable doing it,” he said.

Meanwhile, a delegation of United States officials reached New Delhi on Monday to restart the negotiations for a trade agreement with India, after the recent exchange of positive vibes between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The delegation led by Brendan Lynch, the Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, landed in New Delhi after a visit to Dhaka. Lynch and other US officials will meet their Indian Indian counterparts on Tuesday to add momentum to the stalled negotiations for the bilateral trade agreement.

With DHNS inputs