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India pours on pageantry with raucous welcome for Donald Trump
- Trump’s visit coincides with heightened US-India trade tensions and volatile protests over controversial citizenship law
- Nevertheless, Trump got a red-carpet welcome from Narendra Modi and a mega rally was held in Ahmedabad
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Tens of thousands of people packed into a stadium in western India to welcome US President Donald Trump as he began his first official visit to the country at a time when relations that have been buffeted by a trade dispute.
India and the United States have built close political and security ties and Trump’s two-day trip is a sign of their converging interests and a way to counter China’s rise as a superpower, officials say.
Trump landed in the western city of Ahmedabad, the political home of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to a raucous welcome, at the start of a two-day trip that will also take him to the Taj Mahal in Agra and Delhi for official meetings.
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Modi embraced Trump as he stepped off Air Force One, along with his wife, Melania.
“We are ready to come to India, we are on our way, we will be meeting everyone in a few hours,” Trump tweeted in the Hindi language before he landed.
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Modi tweeted an old Indian saying in response: “The guest is God.”
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