Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day trip to the US came to a close on Thursday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump agreed to strengthen their trade ties during the former’s two-day visit to the US, which ended on Thursday. This is part of the “Mission 500” for bilateral trade between India and the US.
Beginning on January 20, PM Narendra Modi is one of the first international leaders to be entertained by Donald Trump during the Republican leader’s second administration.
What is the US-India “Mission 500”?
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office stated that the ambitious Mission 500 will seek to more than increase bilateral trade between the United States and India to $500 billion by 2030.
In order to strengthen their countries, increase the prosperity of their populations, boost their economies, and strengthen their supply networks, the leaders decided to increase trade and investment. According to the statement, they decided to strengthen commercial ties between the US and India in order to foster development that guarantees equity, national security, and job creation.
Prime Minister Modi and President Trump also declared their intention to negotiate the first tranche of a multi-sector, mutually beneficial Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall 2025, acknowledging the need for new, fair-trade arrangements to achieve the ambitious goal.
In addition to ensuring that the bilateral trade relationship “fully reflects” the goals of “COMPACT,” the two leaders agreed to appoint top representatives for the negotiations.
A new project called COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce and Technology) was also unveiled during PM Modi’s visit. Its goal is to promote “transformative change across key pillars of cooperation” between the countries.
The US and India will use a “integrated approach” to boost and expand bilateral trade in the goods and services sector in order to move forward with the proposed BTA. They will also seek to increase market access, lower tariff and non-tariff barriers, and further integrate their supply chains.
