US President Likely to Visit India in February

US President Donald Trump is likely to visit Indiain February with both sides reportedly discussing possible dates.

Thiswould be the first time Trump visits India as the US President. However, therehas been no official confirmation about this from either side so far.

This comes at a time when the Centre is facing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and a proposed pan-India National Register of Citizen (NRC) and also amid concerns expressed by US lawmakers over the situation in Kashmir. The Union Territory has been under a security lockdown since August when Article 370 that gave special status was abrogated.

The visit of Trump is on the talk as India and the US are expected to sign a trade deal pending since 2018. Reports suggest that India is also hoping for Trump to revoke the cancellation of India's "Generalized System of Preference (GSP)" status.

Trumpis also reportedly keen on visiting India in the early part of this year,before the US presidential election in November. 

However,the timing of Trump's visit would depend on the duration of the US Senateimpeachment trial, which is expected to begin this week. The trial is todetermine if Trump should be removed from office.

Indiahad invited Trump during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US in June2017. This invitation was later converted into an invite for the 2019 RepublicDay parade.

However,Trump had turned down the invitation citing scheduling constraints and thedates clashing with the annual State of the Union address.