The United States Vice President JD Vance will visit India with the Second Lady Usha Vance later this month, as per Politico’s sources who are familiar with the plans. However, an official confirmation is awaited. This visit to India would mark Vance’s second foreign trip as the Vice President of the US after he visited France and Germany last month.
During Vance’s earlier foreign trip, he made a speech at the Munich Security Conference, which provoked reactions. In the speech, he criticised the European governments on how they handle illegal migration, religious freedom, and overturning elections, as per media reports.
This prospective trip to India also comes amid the India-US tariff discussions. Earlier, the US President, Donald Trump, speaking from the White House in a televised address, asserted that India had agreed to significantly lower its tariffs on American exports.
Later, PTI quoted Indian government sources saying that negotiations between India and the US for a trade deal have just begun, and it would be premature to talk about its details. It is natural for both the countries to have their interests and sensitivities, and these are legitimate matters for discussion, the sources added.
Last month, India and the US announced that they would negotiate a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump in Washington DC.
On the other hand, for Usha Vance, whose parents hail from India and immigrated to the US in the 1980s, this will be her first visit to her ancestral nation as the Second Lady.
(with PTI inputs)