Donald Trump May Visit India in Last Week of February Amid Impeachment Crisis
Earlier, India had invited Trump as the chief gues of the Republic Day parade last year but the US President could not come due to scheduling issues.
New Delhi: US President Donald Trump is likely to visit India in the last week of February, sources privy to the developments told CNBC-TV18. As the US President, this would be the first visit by Trump to India.
The two governments have not yet announced dates for the high-level visit but sources said “India and US have been actively discussing dates for this visit”.
The US President’s visit will also depend on the impeachment process that is expected to start in the US Senate in the coming days
An invite to Trump to visit India was extended when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Washington in June 2017.
New Delhi had also requested Trump to be the chief guest at the 2019 Republic Day parade but the US President was unable to participate because of scheduling constraints.
Another invitation was extended last month when Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister S Jaishankar called on Trump after a meeting with their US counterparts Mark Esper and Mike Pompeo for their second India-US “2+2″ dialogue.
When PM Modi visited US in September last year, he reminded Trump of his invitation to him to visit India along with his family. Trump will seek re-election in presidential polls scheduled to take place in November.
Trade has been a bone of contention between the two sides and there are hopes that Trump’s visit may help iron out some of the issues.
If Trump visits, this will be the fifth US presidential visit since 2000. Then US president Bill Clinton had visited in March 2000, while his successor George Bush visited in 2006.
Former US President Barack Obama came to India twice — in 2010 and 2015 as the chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations.
