On 27 June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi culminated his first visit to the United States after President Donald Trump took charge. Prolonged hand shakes and hugs aside, the meeting had the world tuned in.
Here’s how the American media covered the summit:
The Washington Post
The Washington Post, in a piece titled ‘No Questions Allowed: Trump Hails Democratic Bonds With India's Modi While Ignoring the Press Corps’ pointed out that while Trump boasted about the fact that the two leaders were on social media and had opened up a channel of communication with the people, reporters at the event – both Indian and American – were told explicitly there would be no question hour.
It might have worked out well for Trump and Modi, who each have more than 30 million followers on Twitter, but not so much for the several dozen reporters from the United States and India who were seated in rows of folding chairs under a warm late-afternoon sun. The journalists were told ahead of time that there would be no questions allowed — a break from the typical Rose Garden tradition of two questions from each press delegation.Excerpt from The Washington Post article
The New York Times
The New York Times, in a piece titled ‘Trump Meets India’s Leader, a Fellow Nationalist Battling China for His Favor’, chose to point out the two leaders’ popularity on social media.
The two men also share a devotion to Twitter and Facebook to bypass the news media and reach their publics directly.Excerpt from The New York Times article
The American daily pointed out how both India and the US had a common political adversary in China, and the meeting in many ways was a performance directed at the nation.
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.
The Financial Times
The Financial Times, in a piece mildly headlined ‘Trump and Modi embrace US-India friendship’, played on the word ‘embrace’, as it wrote:
Following effusive praise from Mr Trump who described India as a “true friend” in his remarks, Mr Modi walked over to shake hands with the US president before deftly converting the manoeuvre into a hug. Then, after his own flattering comments, Mr Modi again stretched his arms around Mr Trump, a germaphobe who nonetheless attempted to reciprocate the gesture.Excerpt from The Financial Times article
TIME
Ahead of the meeting, TIME magazine chose to publish key highlights and what to expect from the meeting. Setting the stage for the meeting, TIME pointed out possible bones of contention between the two leaders.
Just weeks ago, Trump accused India of seeking to profit from the Paris climate accord, as he announced his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the global agreement. “India makes its participation contingent on receiving billions and billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid from developed countries,” he said — a claim that was rubbished by New Delhi. Another potentially thorny issue: the Trump administration’s review of the visa program for bringing to the U.S. highly skilled foreign workers.Excerpt from TIME magazine
CNN
CNN’s article ‘Trump and Modi reaffirm Indian-US relations with a hug’, pointed how the meeting between the the two leaders was “predicted to be tough” turned out to be “jovial” instead.
It went on to elaborate how the US administration, while urging Pakistan to “ensure that its territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries”, is also interested in continuing its ties with Pakistan.
Excerpt from CNN article:
Prior to the meeting, senior US administration officials said Trump was aware of the delicate balance with India and Pakistan, but would look to treat the 1.3 billion person country like the defense ally it is: “I want to make a point here that US relationships with India and Pakistan really stand on their own merits and terms,” a senior administration official said. While the Trump administration hopes to “deepen” its relationship with India, the official added that they are “also interested in continuing our cooperation with Pakistan” and are “concerned about tensions between Indian and Pakistan.”