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Trade, tariffs and visas to dominate Trump-Modi talks
When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Washington and meets President Donald Trump later this week, there will be some warm hugs and shared laughs. But that will not be all.
Trump and Modi have developed a strong personal rapport over the years, marked by high-profile meetings and joint appearances.
Since their first meeting in Washington in 2017, their bond has grown through other events, including joint appearances at massive rallies in Houston and Ahmedabad. Their chemistry stems from shared worldviews and politics and a mutual strategic focus on countering China, a concern that has also strengthened the broader US-India partnership.
Not surprisingly, Trump has often criticised India, but he has never criticised Modi.
And so, during Modi’s visit, the two leaders will probably spend time mapping out next steps in the US-India strategic partnership, which is already in a good place.
Modi will reportedly meet several members of Trump’s cabinet, as well as US business leaders and members of the Indian-American community.
He may also meet SpaceX and Tesla chief Elon Musk. Modi, keen to scale up India’s burgeoning electric vehicles sector, would be happy if Musk opened a Tesla factory in India.
And yet the Trump-Modi conviviality and heady talk of strategic partnership may mask a sobering reality: during Modi’s visit, the relationship’s transactional side will come into sharp relief with each leader, especially Trump, armed with an array of demands.
Delhi knows Trump well. Many of Modi’s current cabinet ministers also served during his previous term, which overlapped with part of the first Trump administration. That familiarity has been on display since Trump’s inauguration last month: Delhi has publicly signaled its willingness to lower tariffs, take back undocumented Indian immigrants and buy American oil.
It has already lowered some tariffs and taken back 104 undocumented Indians, with the first plane arriving in India last week. These pre-emptive steps are meant to prevent Trump from making specific demands of India and to reduce the likelihood of tensions with the new Trump administration.
Still, Trump may ask Modi to make additional tariff reductions, to further chip away at a US goods and services trade deficit with India that has approached $46bn (£37.10bn) in recent years. But an obstacle could become an opportunity: Modi may call on Trump to enter into bilateral talks on an economic partnership accord meant to reduce tariffs on both sides.
In recent years, Delhi has shown a growing willingness to pursue trade deals. The Trump administration may prove to be a more willing interlocutor than the Biden administration, which imposed heavy environmental and labour-related conditions on new trade agreements.
[BBC]
President Anura Kumara Disanayake stated that steps will be taken to provide the necessary facilities to eliminate organized crime and drug abuse, as well as to introduce new legislation.
The President made these remarks during a discussion held today (18) at the Presidential Secretariat with the police chiefs of the Western Province.
He emphasized that maintaining the rule of law is a key responsibility of the Police Department.
President Anura Kumara Disanayake further stated that a just society cannot be established in Sri Lanka without ensuring the supremacy of the rule of law.
Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, Ananda Wijepala; Deputy Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, Attorney-at-Law Sunil Watagala; Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security, Ravi Seneviratne; Acting Inspector General of Police, Priyantha Weerasooriya; and several Western Province police chiefs were also present at the event.
The Aswasuma Welfare Benefit payment Scheme has been implementing from 01-07-2023 and this scheme has been finally amended by the Extra Ordinary Gazette No 2415/66 dated 21-12-2024.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the President, in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, to publish the following through a Gazette Notification, amending the benefits provided under the presently empowered Aswasuma Welfare Benefit payment Scheme within the provisions allocated by the budget estimate for the year 2025.
• To extend the period of entitlement of benefits for the transitional social category included in schedule 1 of the Aswasuma Welfare Benefit payment Scheme up to 30-04-2025.
• To increase the monthly assistance payment from Rs. 7,500 to Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 5,000 provided to persons with disabilities and receiving treatment for kidney diseases and elderly persons, respectively, that are included in Schedule II of the said scheme and to
implement the said decision from April 2025.
• To extend the period of payment provided for the disable persons, kidney patients, and elderly persons given in the Schedule II, up to 31-12-2025 subject to the above proposals.
• Even though the payment of allowances under the transitional social category will be stopped after April 2025, the period of payment for disabled persons, kidney patients, and elderly persons, of these families will be extended up to 31-12-2025.
• Payment of relevant eligible persons by inclusion of newly forwarded applications of disabled and kidney patients subject to the maximum limit up to 31-12-2025.
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Fertilizer, financial subsidy to farmers who are cultivating the paddy in the Yala season 2025
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