Economics
Mattis and Pompeo to Seek India Accord Amid Threat of Sanctions
- Iran oil imports, planned Russian weapons buy hang over talks
- U.S. arms sales to India may rise to $18 billion by next year
Prospects include a potential deal to build advanced F-16 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp. in India.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo travel to New Delhi this week in an effort to seal a new defense cooperation agreement with their Indian counterparts despite tensions over threatened American sanctions.
Hanging over the meeting, planned for Sept. 6, is the prospect that the U.S. will impose economic sanctions on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government unless it significantly reduces purchases of oil from Iran and cancels a planned $6 billion purchase of S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. Indian officials have said the Russian arms deal would go ahead as planned.