Under the ambitious Mission 500, India and the United States will aim to more than double their total bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, according to a release from the Prime Minister’s Office.
What is Mission 500? Between India & USA
India and the US bolstered their ties during two-day visit of PM Modi with a series of initiatives across domains including ‘Mission 500’, 10-year framework for major defence partnership and decisions concerning energy trade and civil nuclear cooperation. President Donald Trump and PM Modi launched a new initiative –‘U.S.-India COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century’ – to drive transformative change across key pillars of cooperation.
The leaders welcomed the significant integration of U.S.-origin defence items into India’s inventory to date, including C-130J Super Hercules, C-17 Globemaster III, P-8I Poseidon aircraft; CH-47F Chinooks, MH-60R Seahawks, and AH-64E Apaches; Harpoon anti-ship missiles; M777 howitzers; and MQ-9Bs. They announced plans to pursue this year new procurements and co-production arrangements for “Javelin” Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and “Stryker” Infantry Combat Vehicles in India to rapidly meet India’s defence requirements.
To this end, the leaders set a bold new goal for bilateral trade – “Mission 500” – aiming to more than double total bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.
Commenting on India-China tensions, he said, “I look at India, I do see the skirmishes on the border which are quite vicious… If I could be of help, I would love to help… I would hope that China, India, Russia and US, all of us can get along. It’s very important.”
US to sell F-35 jets to India
Donald Trump on Thursday said that the United States will be increasing its military sales to India by billions of dollars and his administration is paving the way to provide India with F35 Stealth fighters. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, the most extensively deployed fifth-generation fighter jet, participated in the 15th edition of Aero India, Asia’s largest aerospace and defense expo earlier this month.
MIGA+ MAGA
Donald Trump in the US, spoke about India’s vision of ‘Make India Great Again’ (MIGA) – a phrase inspired by Mr Trump’s signature slogan ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA). According to PM Modi, a joint vision of ‘MAGA’ and ‘MIGA’ becomes a mega partnership for prosperity.
India to buy US energy of up to $ 25 billion
“Last year, we purchased about $15 billion in US Energy output. There is a good chance that this figure will go up to as much as 25 billion dollars in the near future,” ministry of external affairs said in a presser.
Reciprocal approach on tariffs
PM Modi’s visit to the US did not have a significant impact on Donald Trump’s recent move to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from India. He also reiterated his “100% tariffs” on Brics nations threat if they tried to replace the US dollar with any other currency.
