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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday spoke to US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and appreciated the "unwavering support" the US extended to India in its fight against terrorism. In their phone conversation, Singh and Hegseth discussed a wide range of issues -- from long-term cooperation in the defence sector, including training and military exchanges, to expanding industry collaborations. "Excellent discussion to review the ongoing and new initiatives to further deepen India-US defence partnership and strengthen cooperation in capacity building," Singh said in a social media post. "Conveyed my deep appreciation for the unwavering support extended by the US to India in its fight against terrorism. Looking forward to meet him at an early date," he said. The defence ministry said Singh and Hegseth agreed to further build upon the momentum of the "critical and mutually beneficial" partnership across all its pillars. "The two leaders discussed a wide canvas of issues ranging from
India should reconsider negotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) with the US as it could pose challenges to domestic sectors like agriculture, automobiles and pharmaceuticals, think tank GTRI said on Thursday. It cautioned that under trade pact with the US, many of Washington's demands such as weakening India's minimum price support system for farmers, allowing genetically modified food imports, lowering agricultural tariffs, changing patent laws to extend drug monopolies, and letting American e-commerce giants sell directly to consumers pose major risks. The risks include harm to farmer incomes, food security, biodiversity, public health, and the survival of small retailers, the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said. "Reducing tariffs on farm goods could affect the livelihoods of hundreds of millions, while slashing duties on cars could undercut a sector that accounts for nearly a third of India's manufacturing output. The collapse of Australia's car industry .
The India-US TRUST (Transforming Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology) initiative will help in giving a push to the government's National Critical Mineral Mission, which encourages public and private sector companies to acquire critical mineral assets abroad. The National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM), approved by the government for a period of seven years till 2030-31, at an outlay of Rs 34,300 crore, proposes development of stockpiles of critical minerals within the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump have agreed on the TRUST initiative, to emphasis on creating strong supply chains of critical minerals, advanced materials and pharmaceuticals. As per a joint statement issued after the Trump-Modi meeting in Washington, both the countries have decided to launch a recovery and processing initiative for strategic minerals like lithium and rare earth. The National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) aims to build a resilient value chain encompassing
Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the best leader for India and for the Indo-US relationship, popular singer Mary Millben has said many in the US desire to see him re-elected so that bilateral ties can continue to be strengthened to greater levels. "I tell you certainly there's a lot of support for the Prime Minister here in the United States. I believe many desire to see the Prime Minister re-elected because, again, he's the best leader for India, Millben, a prominent African-American Hollywood actress and singer, told PTI in an interview. Millben has a huge fan following in India and the Indian diaspora, in particular, after her rendition of the national anthem Jana Gana Mana' and a popular aarti in Hindi, Om Jai Jagadish Hare', last year. She sang India's national anthem in June 2023 at an event in the US during the prime minister's state visit. The 41-year-singer also referred to the election season in 2024 when India is headed for general elections in the next few months