Modi Hopes a White House Visit Will Keep India Out of Trump’s Cross Hairs

As he prepared to go to Washington this week, India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, spoke of building on the warm relations he shared with President Trump during his first term in the White House.

But Mr. Trump can be a fickle friend. So when Mr. Modi meets with him on Thursday, he is expected to bear offerings designed to ease emerging points of friction and preserve growing U.S.-India ties.

One major focus is trade. Indian officials have said that domestic companies are in talks to increase purchases of American energy supplies, particularly liquefied natural gas. The two leaders are also expected to discuss expanded spending on U.S. defense equipment and potentially announce new deals.

In addition, Mr. Modi can point to recent reductions in Indian tariffs on high-end American motorcycles — namely Harley-Davidsons — and the prospect of lower duties on goods like bourbon and pecans, which are produced mainly in Republican states.

These moves, though largely symbolic in some cases, are intended to placate Mr. Trump’s irritation over the American trade deficit with India and the high import duties that make India a difficult market to enter.

On another big source of tension, illegal immigration, Mr. Modi has already offered concessions. India accounts for the largest group of illegal migrants to the United States outside Latin America. The Indian government has made clear it will cooperate with Mr. Trump’s deportation drive, even as it caused a political headache for Mr. Modi last week.