NEW DELHI \u2013 India\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate virtually in the Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur, ruling out a possible meeting with US President Donald Trump and indicating New Delhi and Washington may not be close to sealing a trade deal.<\/p>\n
The United States and India have been negotiating for months to thrash out a trade deal, but talks have been complicated by India\u2019s Russian oil imports, which prompted Washington to impose a punitive 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods in August, raising total levies to 50 per cent.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook forward to joining the Asean\u2013India Summit virtually, and to further deepening of the Asean\u2013India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,\u201d Mr Modi said on X on Oct 23 while referring to a conversation with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.<\/p>\n
Datuk Seri Anwar also said he had been informed that Mr Modi would attend the gathering virtually \u201cdue to the ongoing Deepavali celebrations in India at that time\u201d, referring to the Hindu festival of lights celebrated this week.<\/p>\n
The meeting of the leaders of Asean will take place in Kuala Lumpur from Oct 26 to 28. It will be attended by all 10 members of the bloc and key trading partners such as China, Japan and the US<\/p>\n
Malaysia\u2019s foreign minister said last week that Mr Trump would visit Malaysia on Oct 26, fuelling speculation in India about a possible meeting with Mr Modi, who was previously expected to attend the summit in person.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump and Mr Modi spoke on Oct 21, both leaders said, with Mr Trump adding that their conversation focused largely on trade.<\/p>\n
Mr Modi did not elaborate on the content of their conversation.<\/p>\n
On Oct 22, India\u2019s Mint media outlet reported the US and India were close to a deal that would cut tariffs on Indian imports to 15 to 16 per cent, though progress hinged on energy and agriculture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI \u2013 India\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate virtually in the Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur, ruling out a possible meeting with US President Donald Trump and indicating New Delhi and Washington may not be close to sealing a trade deal. The United States and India have been negotiating for months to thrash …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-50243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tie-world","tag-top-story"],"yoast_head":"\n