Lawmakers pressed the nominee, Kenneth Juster, at his Senate confirmation hearing on human rights issues that irritate generally positive relations between the world's two largest democracies. Juster said that if confirmed, the U.S. embassy in India, "will take this as a very high priority." India has often taken umbrage at scrutiny by the U.S. government on issues such as human trafficking and religious freedom, covered in global reports by the State Department. Despite Juster's comments Tuesday, the president is widely seen as less preoccupied with human rights issues than previous presidents. He is, however, determined to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with India which totaled about $30 billion last year.

Source: ABC News October 03, 2017 16:09 UTC