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The government of India is rushing its diplomatic efforts to satisfy United States President Donald Trump because they aim to prevent a serious commercial war.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented multiple concessions to the White House during a brief few weeks as India sets its diplomatic strategy under President Donald Trump who applies trade tariffs to nearly all nations.

India’s government initiated its initial complete tariff reform on Saturday by releasing reductions across a wide spectrum of imported products from textiles to motorcycles. The new arrangement commits New Delhi to receive unlawful immigrants from the United States while keeping the US dollar as its primary trading currency.

The hurry of decisions from India shows a new enthusiastic attitude during Trump's second presidential term. The Modi government adopted a markedly different stance during Trump's second term compared to his first four years when strong affection between the leaders failed to resolve trading deadlock leading to Washington revoking India benefits.

Indian authorities express strong motivation to safeguard their growing commercial and military partnership with the United States while making India an appealing production base for businesses departing Chinese territories. The officials claim New Delhi stands to benefit more than suffer from keeping friendly relations with Trump.
‘Doing Everything’
The Ministry of External Affairs failed to reply to the email sent following regular office hours.

Alicia Garcia-Herrero at Natixis believes that India holds vital importance to the United States in all strategic fronts including the Indo-Pacific framework and tariff relocation recommendations. The possibility of major tariffs targeting India remains low at present while the government keeps taking measures intended to escape such measures.

As Trump implements new tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China governments across the world race to impede protectionist US initiatives which carry elevated threats to global economic expansion and shake worldwide markets. The political leadership in South Korea declared their interest in expanding their US energy and food imports while Japan started exploring stable energy cooperation with Washington.

Trade Minister Don Farrell of Australia has initiated discussions with his American counterpart by sending a spokesman for this purpose. Australia needs to proceed rapidly because trade barriers against its aluminum and copper exports appear imminent.

Any trade conflict between Washington and India would pose severe economic challenges to the Indian market. The United States presents an $78.1 billion trade deficit which stems from large energy-import payments but maintains a $35.3 billion surplus with India throughout the last fiscal year ending March 2019.

Tighter Ties


India and the United States have strengthened their alliance through defense-related partnerships and nuclear agreements and technological exchanges to develop New Delhi into a Chinese containment force in the region. The US companies Apple Inc. and Micron Technology Inc. decided to establish new factories in India.

Trumps' recent statements indicate that he anticipates Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lead a visit to the White House this month which would place the PM among the earliest leaders to conduct diplomatic engagements at Washington after Donald Trump assuming office.

Despite numerous public criticisms against India regarding its protectionist trade policies Trump plans to impose equal customs rates on the South Asian nation. India cut motorcycle import duties to support US-made Harley-Davidson products because Trump has often argued these American bikes receive improper treatment from the Indian market.

The statement of India being "not a tariff king" from Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey maintained the moniker Trump gave India when he was president his initial term.

Sticking Points
According to Amitendu Palit who specializes in trade and investment at the National University of Singapore such modifications to Indian tariff policies address Trump's original concerns about India's situation.

Various key issues continue to separate these two countries politically. India stays committed to getting a high volume of crude oil from Russia despite US sanctions against Russia because of its Ukraine invasion.

The US Justice Department issued charges against an Indian official previously because he orchestrated a plot to kill a US citizen inside its borders. According to India it supports pursuing legal charges against a person who participated in the conspiracy.

The possible risk for India to please Trump involves the potential for generating new requirements from the American president according to Palit.

The pattern Trump uses prevents his supporters from determining whether an agreement will remain permanent because he returns later with increased demands according to Palit. “That’s a challenge.”