US Ambassador hints at a Modi-Trump bilateral on G20 sidelines

US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be at the top of President Donald Trump’s list of leaders to meet at the upcoming G20 Summit, while also hinting at a possible bilateral on the event’s sidelines.

Gor also indicated that the Quad Leaders’ Summit would be held during the time of the Summit, even as he maintained that such an event is not “set” yet. His remarks came during an interview with India Today “If you asked the President, ‘You have 35 people coming.

Who do you want to see?’, Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] would be at the top of that list,” Gor said when asked about the G20 meet, to be held in Florida in December. “Because the President considers the Prime Minister a friend, I anticipate that there will be more to that visit than just a group meeting,” Gor added, hinting at a Modi-Trump bilateral on the sidelines of the Summit.

The ambassador also said that the two sides are “very close” to finalising the trade deal, and that Trump is expected to visit India next year. “The trade deal is being reworked after the Supreme Court’s unfortunate decision, but we are very close,” the ambassador said, adding that he hoped the agreement would be finalised within the next few months.

“People ask me, ‘It has been a year’, but the European Union has been negotiating for more than 20 years and it is still not done. We are way ahead of a lot of other partners,” the close aide of Trump said. Gor also praised Prime Minister Modi for bringing stability to India, saying it had made the country an attractive partner for the United States.

“India doing well is a great thing for us. We want a stable India. We want to work with a stable India,” he said. The ambassador also said India should “get used to” more frequent visits by senior US officials as Washington seeks a closer relationship with New Delhi.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio returns to India in October, months after his four-day visit in May this year for the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. “This is very rare, that the Secretary of State would come twice in such a short time.

My message was very clear: get used to it,” Gor said. The ambassador also highlighted that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar could be traveling to the United States three times over the next four months, including for the United Nations and the G20 meets.

Emphasising that Quad remained central to cooperation among its partners — India, the US, Japan and Australia — Gor said, “Any time the four leaders are at a place, Quad meeting will be held.” Prime Ministers of Japan and Australia are also likely to visit Florida for the G20 Summit being hosted by the US.

The next Quad ministerial meeting will be held in Sydney in October, with Rubio expected to attend, Gor said, adding that the four countries were also working towards a leaders’ summit, possibly later this year. Interactions between New Delhi and Washington were in abeyance of late as relations strained between the two sides, especially after Trump’s claims of mediation in India-Pakistan ceasefire and his decision to impose heavy tariffs on India.

The two countries are currently firming up a bilateral trade deal. Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not necessarily in that order - for The Indian Express. She's been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express.

Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India. ...

Read More