India, June 18 -- On the eve of US Trade Representative Jameson Greer's visit to India next week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged US President Donald Trump for an early signing of a bilateral trade deal at the Evian meeting on Wednesday evening. Both sides agreed that negotiations should be completed soon so that the trade deal is signed and India-US ties move to the next level.

While critics of PM Modi and his foreign policy assumed that India-US bilateral ties would move into management mode due to mercurial President Trump, the meeting turned out to be a full endorsement of India and PM Modi by the US President. During the press conference after the bilateral meeting, President Trump made it amply clear that he was all out for Indi...