New Delhi (AFP) - US Vice President JD Vance met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a red carpet welcome in New Delhi on Monday, as India bids for an early trade deal to stave off punishing tariffs.

Modi’s office said that there had been “significant progress in the negotiations” with the two countries negotiating the first tranche of a trade deal.

New Delhi hopes to secure relief within the 90-day pause on steep tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump this month.

Vance’s office similarly reported “significant progress” in the talks and said the two men had established a roadmap for how economic discussions would proceed.

His four-day visit comes two months after Modi held talks at the White House with Trump, during which India pledged to buy more US oil and gas to offset its trade surplus with Washington.

Yet that did not prevent India from being slapped with 26 percent tariffs by Trump, later lowered to 10 percent for the 90-day period.

An honour guard and troupes of folk dancers greeted Vance after he stepped out into the sweltering sunshine of New Delhi on Monday morning, the start of a four-day tour that will include trips to the historic fort city of Jaipur and the Taj Mahal.

“Ad-Vance-ing” US-India ties, broadcaster NDTV headlined its stories.

Modi, who welcomed Vance to his residence on Monday evening with a bear hug, photographs released by the Indian government showed, later hosted the vice president and his family for dinner.

The men discussed boosting “cooperation in energy, defence strategic technologies and other areas”, Modi’s office said, without giving further details.

- ‘Boost’ -

Vance’s visit comes during an escalating trade war between the United States and China. India’s neighbour and rival faces US levies of up to 145 percent on many products.

Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent on US goods. New Delhi has reacted cautiously so far.

After Vance’s meetings Monday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he was “pleased to confirm” that Washington and India’s Ministry of Commerce “have finalized the Terms of Reference to lay down a roadmap for the negotiations on reciprocal trade”.

Vance and Modi were also expected to discuss China, seen as a challenger in different domains by both governments. The two democracies are also a part of the “Quad” group with Australia and Japan.

The US vice president is accompanied by his wife Usha, the daughter of Indian immigrants.

Together with their three children, who were dressed in traditional flowing Indian attire, they visited the Hindu Akshardham Temple in New Delhi.

Modi said during his visit to Washington that the world’s largest and fifth-largest economies would work on a “mutually beneficial trade agreement”.

The United States is a crucial market for India’s information technology and services sectors. Washington in turn has made billions of dollars in new military hardware sales to New Delhi in recent years.

Modi said he “looks forward” to a visit by Trump to India later this year, New Delhi said in a statement, with a potential Quad summit slated.

Vance, 40, a devout Catholic convert, arrived in New Delhi a day after meeting Pope Francis in the Vatican.

The vice president said his “heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him”, after the Vatican announced the death of the pope on Monday.