In recent years, Delhi has shown a growing willingness to pursue trade deals. The Trump administration may prove to be a more willing interlocutor than the Biden administration, which imposed heavy environmental and labour-related conditions on new trade agreements.

India is in talks with the United States for the purchase and co-production of combat vehicles as well as finalising a fighter jet engine deal, people familiar with the matter said. Trump asked Modi in a call last month to buy more U.S.-made security equipment and move "toward a fair trading relationship".

Narendra Modi’s visit to the White House this week feels suspiciously like a victory lap for an Indian leader whose economy hasn’t had a great deal to celebrate of late.