, Columnist
Has Modi Struck a New Bromance?
Common interests, and Chinese ham-handedness, boost Indo-U.S. ties.
Keep your friends close.
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Very little was expected in India from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the U.S., and for good reason: Modi had gone out of his way to cultivate a personal relationship with Barack Obama, including famously pouring out a cup of tea for him and the cameras when Obama visited India. Modi is nothing if not a strong personality, and has a somewhat worrying tendency to reduce complicated bilateral relationships to personal ones. Whether he would hit it off with Obama’s successor -- who could perhaps be politely described as “mercurial” -- was a matter of frenzied debate in New Delhi prior to the visit.