US Vice President JD Vance, wife Usha Vance, to visit India later this month: Report

Washington/New Delhi: US Vice President JD Vance will travel to India later this month alongside his wife Usha Vance, the Politico reported citing three sources familiar with the plans.

This will mark the US Vice President’s second foreign trip since taking over in January. He had earlier travelled as vice president to France and Germany last month.

Usha Vance’s parents emigrated from India to the US. It will be her first time visiting her ancestral country as second lady.

Usha Vance’s mother, a molecular biologist, and mechanical engineer father moved to the US from Andhra Pradesh.

The vice president’s first foreign trip was marked by a fiery speech at the Munich Security Conference where he criticized European governments for their handling of illegal migration, ignoring religious freedoms, and overturning elections.

The India visit also comes as the two countries are negotiating the first tranche of a mutually beneficial multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by the Fall of 2025.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump had agreed during their meeting in the White House on February 13 to designate senior representatives to advance the negotiations. They were to work towards increasing market access, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers and deepening supply chain integration.

An Indian delegation led by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal visited Washington from March 3-6 for talks with the US Commerce Secretary, the US Trade Representative and their teams.