J.D. Vance in India updates: U.S. Vice President, PM Modi welcome progress on India-U.S. trade pact

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance on Monday welcomed progress towards sealing a bilateral trade agreement during their wide-ranging talks.

Following the talks, Modi hosted a dinner for Vance, Indian-origin Second Lady Usha and his delegation of officials.

Prime Minister Modi and Vice President Vance reviewed and positively assessed the progress in various areas of bilateral cooperation, an Indian readout said.

“They welcomed the significant progress in the negotiations for a mutually beneficial India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement focused on the welfare of the people of the two countries,” it said.

“Likewise, they noted continued efforts towards enhancing cooperation in energy, defence, strategic technologies and other areas,” it added.

The two leaders also exchanged views on various regional and global issues of mutual interest, and called for dialogue and diplomacy as the way forward.

“The Prime Minister extended his best wishes to the Vice President, Second Lady and their children for a pleasant and productive stay in India,” the readout said.

It said Modi conveyed to Vance his warm greetings to President Donald Trump and said that he looked forward to his visit to India later this year.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance visiting India in almost the beginning of the second term of President Donald Trump holds its own significance, Former Ambassador of India to the U.S. Taranjit Singh Sandhu has said and noted that the strategic partnership between the two countries has many dimensions and trade issues will also get sorted out.

In an interview with ANI, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, who is also a BJP leader, said that challenges should be converted to opportunities. He said tariffs by the Trump administration are a worldwide phenomenon, and it does not mean that the strategic relationship between the two countries will be pushed under the carpet.

He said India-U.S. ties have many dimensions, and trade is a part of it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, as both leaders welcome progress in talks for Bilateral Trade Agreement, cooperation in Energy, Defence and Strategic ties. 

PM Modi says he looks forward to receiving U.S. President Trump later this year, says statement from PM Office.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Monday announced that it will be holding 10 Mahapanchayats in Bihar to campaign among the people “to punish the BJP and NDA” in the upcoming state assembly elections.

It also extended support to a general strike called by the Central Trade Unions (CTUs) on May 20 against the new labour codes and said mass protests will be held independently by farmers and agricultural workers.

In a statement issued after a meeting of the General Body of the SKM on Sunday, the umbrella body of farmers’ organisations said they will hold protests during the visit of U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, who arrived in India on Monday on a four-day visit, over the tariff issue.

As a mark of protest amid the ongoing US tariff war, the SKM is protesting against U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance’s visit.

It said they will burn effigies of “Trump, Modi and Vance between 21-23 April 2025 against U.S. attempts to coerce Modi Government to impose unfair trade terms and to dump U.S. agricultural products in India.” The General Body also decided to extend support to the Electricity Sector Workers Strike on June 26 against privatisation and pre-paid Smart Meters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held talks with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance against the backdrop of ongoing negotiations for a bilateral trade pact.

It is expected that the two leaders will discuss ways to further expand India-U.S. global strategic ties as well as New Delhi’s concerns over Washington’s trade policy.

After the talks, the Prime Minister will host a dinner for Mr. Vance, his Indian-origin wife Usha Chilukuri and the delegation of senior US government officials accompanying the Vice President.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, accompanied by his Indian-origin wife Usha and their three children, on Monday visited the Central Cottage Industries Emporium (CCIE) located in Janpath in the national capital, where they purchased some traditional Indian handicrafts.

According to Cottage Emporium staff, the Vances picked up wooden items, handloom products, and brassware. “They were very happy to see Indian handicraft and handloom products under one roof,” Anil Rajak, a staffer, said.

Established in 1952, the Central Cottage Industries Emporium was envisioned as a platform to revive India’s craft heritage, impacted by industrialization in the post-colonial era. For over seven decades, it has served as a cultural window to the world, supporting artisans and promoting traditional crafts.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, accompanied by Second Lady Usha Vance and their children, began his four-day official visit to India with a visit to the Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple in New Delhi on Monday.

In a message shared by the temple’s official X handle, Mr. Vance appreciated the warm hospitality and the temple’s intricate design.

“Thank you all so much for your hospitality and kindness in welcoming me and my family to this beautiful place. It is a great credit to India that you built a beautiful temple with precision and care. Our kids, in particular, loved it. God bless,” the U.S. V-P said.

Huge traffic jams were witnessed in several parts of the national capital on Monday as restrictions and diversions were put in place across the city for U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance’s visit.

Commuters heading to work in Delhi from adjoining Noida and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh and Gurugram in Haryana found themselves stuck for a long time due to the traffic congestion.

While the traffic police issued an advisory over its measures for the U.S. Vice President’s visit, many commuters said the restrictions put in place for a ‘VIP’ was unfair to the common citizen.

Routes connecting Noida to Delhi, including the extended stretch near Sector 62, the DND (Delhi-Noida Direct) Flyway, and the Meerut Expressway from Ghaziabad, experienced heavy traffic snarls with office-goers taking to social media platforms to express their frustration.

Dressed in traditional Indian attire chosen especially for their visit to India, US Vice-President JD Vance’s three children won hearts, with their photographs going viral on social media shortly after they landed in Delhi on Monday.

While the boys -- eight-year-old Ewan and five-year-old Vivek -- wore yellow and grey kurtas with white pyjamas, Vance’s three-year-old daughter Mirabel was dressed in a teal green anarkali suit and a jacket.

The trio became a hit among the photographers covering the visit as soon as they deplaned, with their photographs trending on social media during the day.

While Vance wore a navy blue business suit paired with a white shirt and a red tie, his wife chose a red long dress with a white blazer.

The Vances, who are in India for a four-day visit during which they are also scheduled to travel to Jaipur and Agra, were at the Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple near the banks of the Yamuna for about an hour.

“Thank you all so much for your hospitality and kindness in welcoming me and my family to this beautiful place. It is a great credit to India that you built a beautiful temple with precision and care. Our kids, in particular, loved it. God bless,” the vice president wrote in the temple guest book. 

The children - Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel, all three dressed in Indian attire.

“They were given a traditional welcome after which they had ‘darshan’. A carved wooden elephant, a model of the Delhi Akshardham Temple and children’s books were gifted to the family,” a priest at the temple told PTI.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance will visit the Amber Fort in Jaipur and deliver an address on U.S.-India relations at Rajasthan International Centre (RIC) on April 22. Mr. Vance will arrive in Jaipur in a special plane at 9.30 p.m. and will stay at hotel Rambagh Palace. He will reach Amber Fort at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. He will address an event at the RIC at 3 p.m.

The vice president is scheduled to leave Jaipur for Agra in a special plane on Wednesday morning. After returning to Jaipur in the afternoon, he is scheduled to visit City Palace. He will depart for the U.S. early on Thursday morning. - PTI

J.D. Vance’s four-day trip encompasses diplomatic engagements and cultural explorations, underscoring the multifaceted relationship between the two nations.

Read more:

J.D. Vance India visit: What’s on Vance’s India agenda? 

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance's four-day visit to India focuses on strengthening ties, trade negotiations, and cultural exploration.

As J.D. Vance’s India trip is expected to result in the two countries working to hash out a trade agreement, China has warned nations not to seek a deal with the United States that compromised its interests.

“Appeasement will not bring peace, and compromise will not be respected,” a spokesperson for China’s commerce ministry said in a statement. “To seek one’s own temporary selfish interests at the expense of others’ interests is to seek the skin of a tiger,” Beijing said.

That approach, it warned, “will ultimately fail on both ends and harm others”.

-AFP

As United States Vice President J.D. Vance began his first official visit to India on Monday morning, accompanied by his India-origin wife Usha Vance, the couple’s three children charmed onlookers with their choice of clothing.

Ewan, Vivek, and little Maribel were all dressed in traditional Indian outfits, with the boys wearing kurta pyjamas while the toddler sported what looked like a mini version of an Anarkali style suit teamed with an embroidered jacket.

-ANI

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife Usha along with their three children visited the Akshardham Temple in Delhi on Monday.

Mr. Vance, his Indian-origin wife Usha Chilukuri and their children Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel, all three dressed in Indian attire, posed for camera crews outside the imposing facade of the temple.

-PTI

Sharing a post on X, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal wrote, “A very warm welcome to @VP JD Vance, @SLOTUS Mrs. Usha Vance, & the US delegation to India! Received by Minister of Railways and I&B @AshwiniVaishnaw at the airport.”

“The Official Visit (21-24 Apr) spanning Delhi, Jaipur & Agra is expected to further deepen the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership,” the post added.

-ANI

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Indian ambassador to U.S. Vinay Mohan Kwatra are expected to be part of the Indian team to be led by PM Modi at the talks.

The focus of the meeting is likely to be on early finalisation of the proposed bilateral trade pact as well as ways to boost overall trajectory of ties between the two countries, sources said.

-PTI

Mr. Vance and his family are scheduled to visit the Akshardham temple in Delhi and may also visit a shopping complex that sells traditional Indian handcrafted goods, according to people familiar with the matter.

“We have conducted advanced security checks at the Akshardham temple. Our teams have been deployed there and will remain on-site throughout the visit,” a police official said.

-PTI

Vice President Vance is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi today. A formal meeting between Vice President Vance and Prime Minister Modi is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Prime Minister’s official residence, 7, Lok Kalyan Marg.

Their discussions are expected to focus on strengthening economic, trade, and defence cooperation between the two nations.

-ANI

Mr. Vance’s first visit to India comes weeks after US President Donald Trump imposed and then paused a sweeping tariff regime against around 60 countries, including India.

New Delhi and Washington are now holding negotiations to seal a bilateral trade agreement that is expected to address a variety of issues, including tariff and market access.

-PTI

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance landed in Delhi, along with his wife and several government officials.

Mr. Vance received a guard of honour and was welcomed by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Security was tightened across Delhi ahead of the arrival of US Vice President J.D. Vance and Second Lady Usha on Monday, a senior police official said.

“We have already conducted mock drills according to the security protocol for the high-level visit of the US vice president. Security has been tightened across different areas of Delhi to ensure that everything goes smoothly and no untoward incident happens during the visit,” the official said.

Delhi Traffic Police will also ensure that the routes the US vice president will take remain clear, he said.

-PTI

On April 23, Vice President Vance and his wife Usha are scheduled to visit Agra.

The Taj Mahal is being prepared for Mr. Vance’s visit, as he and his wife will walk through the mausoleum. In 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump visited the Taj Mahal along with First Lady Melania Trump.

-ANI

India “raised concerns” over the treatment of Indian students who have received visa revocation notices through diplomatic channels, government sources told The Hindu. The issue was taken up days before U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and senior U.S. State Department officials arrive in Delhi on Monday for talks, and comes after a survey found 50% of those reporting the revocations were Indian. Meanwhile the U.S. government denied targeting Indians specifically with its actions on the issue.

MEA raises issue of Indian students with U.S., after survey found 50% of students facing notices are Indians

India expresses concerns over visa revocations for Indian students in the US, as diplomatic talks with US officials approach.

Vance will meet Prime Minister Narendra for talks on the economy, trade and geopolitical ties. Vance’s visit is seen as an important diplomatic mission by President Donald Trump’s administration, and it coincides with a rapidly intensifying trade war between Washington and Beijing, which is New Delhi’s main rival in the region.

The U.S., however, wants greater market access for its agricultural and dairy products in India, but New Delhi has been reluctant so far as the farm sector employs bulk of the country’s workforce. - PTI

Officials hope that any substantive announcements would be made after the meeting with Mr. Modi, including the formal launch of the TRUST (Transforming Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology) partnership, renamed from the earlier Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) with the previous Biden administration. 

On Tuesday (April 22, 2025), Mr. Vance will deliver an address at the Rajasthan International Centre in Jaipur, where he is likely to make a policy statement on India-U.S. ties. The speech will be eyed with considerable interest, given Mr. Vance’s tough-talking during his previous two visits abroad, including his visit to the Munich Security Conference, where he admonished European countries on the Ukraine issue, and his visit to Greenland, where he stressed the U.S.’s claims to the region that’s currently a part of Denmark. - The Hindu Bureau

India on Thursday (April 17, 2025) said it is “very positive” that the upcoming visit of U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance will give “further boost” to the India-U.S. bilateral ties and “all relevant issues” will be on the table.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal made the comments while indicating that issues relating to trade and tariff will figure during Vance’s talks with Indian leaders. - PTI

Ahead of talks between Narendra Modi and U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance, the Congress on Sunday (April 20, 2025) asked if the Prime Minister would convey India’s concerns on the manner in which Indian citizens were being deported and the “complete destruction” of the multilateral rules-based trading system anchored in the WTO. - PTI

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) said on Thursday (April 17, 2025) that it will hold mass demonstrations against U.S. Vice President J. D. Vance’s upcoming visit to India.

In a statement, the AIKS called upon all its units across the country to hold mass demonstrations, burn effigies of the U.S. vice president and raise the “Vance Go Back! India Is Not For Sale” slogan in villages and district headquarters on April 21, the day he is scheduled to arrive in India.

Read the full article,

AIKS to stage protests against U.S. Vice President Vance's visit to India

AIKS plans mass protests against U.S. VP Vance's visit to India, opposing proposed trade pact and market opening.

Security has been stepped up across the national capital in view of the arrival of U.S. Vice President J D Vance and Indian-origin second lady Usha on Monday morning, an official said on Sunday (April 20, 2025).

“We have already conducted mock drills according to the security protocol for the high level visit of the US vice president. Security has been tightened across different areas of Delhi to ensure that everything goes smoothly and no untoward incident happens during the visit,” a senior police officer said.

The Delhi Traffic Police will also ensure that traffic is clear and his travel across the capital happens without any problem, he said. - PTI