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Trump Meets India’s Leader, a Fellow Nationalist Battling China for His Favor - The New York Times

posted onJune 27, 2017
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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, two nationalist leaders with a shared passion for social media, met on Monday as India sought to vie with China for Mr. Trump’s favor in the region. Mr. Trump lavished praise on Mr. Modi, calling him a “true friend” with ambitious plans to fight corruption and cut taxes. The two men also share a devotion to Twitter and Facebook to bypass the news media and reach their publics directly. The display of warmth, a senior White House official said, was at least partly aimed at President Xi Jinping of China, who has disappointed Mr. Trump in recent weeks by failing to impose more pressure on neighboring North Korea to curb its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Pointedly, Mr. Trump noted that India had helped the United States enforce sanctions on North Korea. “The North Korean regime is causing tremendous problems,” he said, “and it’s something that has to be dealt with — and probably dealt with rapidly.” Mr. Modi returned the favor, praising Mr. Trump’s “vast and successful” business experience, which he predicted would galvanize relations between the United States and India. He also invited Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka to a conference of entrepreneurs in India. Yet the mutual admiration masked a more complicated dynamic between India and the United States. While ties between the two have grown steadily closer over the last two decades, India faces new uncertainties with Mr. Trump, who has sh... Link to the full article to read more

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