(AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi).AHMEDABAD, India -- Prioritizing pageantry over policy, President Donald Trump basked in India's welcoming embrace on a day that featured a mega-rally with cheering crowds, a mutual admiration show with his counterpart and a sunset tour of the famed Taj Mahal.Trump used Day One of his whirlwind 36-hour visit to India to reaffirm close ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and tease progress on a trade deal down the road. Prioritizing pageantry over policy, U.S. President Donald Trump basked in India's welcoming embrace on a day that featured a mega-rally with cheering crowds, a mutual admiration show with his counterpart and a sunset tour of the famed Taj Mahal.Trump used the first day of his whirlwind 36-hour visit to India to reaffirm close ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and tease progress on a trade deal down the road.

India responded with higher penalties on agricultural goods and restrictions on U.S. medical devices. Titled "Four More Years" the 107-second video starts with the iconic footage of Modi and Trump walking hand in hand at the NRG Stadium in Houston during the … US president joins 50,000 Narendra Modi supporters in Texas as thousands hold counter-protest outside the venue. Both had attended a “Howdy Modi” rally in Houston last year that drew 50,000 people. Anti-Trump street demonstrations also erupted in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Gauhati.Trump opened his rally speech in Ahmedabad on Monday by declaring that he had travelled 8,000 miles to deliver the message that "America loves India, America respects India and America will always be faithful and loyal friends to the Indian people. ",Modi figuratively and literally embraced Trump at the start of the "Namaste Trump" rally that was, in a way, the back half of home-and-away events for the two men. But the animals were successfully cleared from the site before the Trumps' visit.Trump's trip comes as he is in the midst of an election year and after he was acquitted by the Senate on impeachment charges.Foreign trips offer powerful political imagery for presidents facing reelection: They can be feted on the world stage while their rivals in the opposing party slog through visits to diners in early-voting states and clash in debates. More than 100,000 people packed the world's largest cricket stadium, nearly all of then wearing white caps with the name of the event, “Namaste, Trump.”.But miles away in the capital of New Delhi, police used tear gas and smoke grenades to disperse a crowd of clashing protesters hours before Trump was due to arrive, as violence broke out over a new citizenship law that excludes Muslims. ': Trump attends Indian PM's rally in Houston. United States President Donald Trump on Thursday conveyed wishes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 70th birthday and called him a "great leader" and a "loyal friend". India responded with higher penalties on agricultural goods and restrictions on U.S. medical devices. He later delighted in his first visit to the Taj Mahal, the immense white marble 17th century mausoleum in the city of Agra. ".Trump, whose foreign visits typically are light on sightseeing, told reporters travelling with him that the stadium event was "fantastic." Basking in adulation from a massive, colorful crowd, Trump and Modi lavished each other with praise Monday in a reaffirmation of U.S.-India ties as the subcontinent poured on the pageantry in a joyful welcome for the U.S. president. Then it was on to a far more boisterous setting: the mega-rally at the world's largest cricket stadium.A battery of carefully chosen Modi loyalists and workers from his Bharatiya Janata Party lined the road to accord the president a grand welcome. The president's motorcade travelled newly cleaned roads planted with flowers and featuring elaborately costumed dancers and musicians as well as hundreds large of billboards featuring the president, Modi and first lady Melania Trump. Their two nations are closely allied, in part to act as a bulwark against the rising influence of China. Trump posted a photograph of his visit to India in February on Twitter, in which he and Modi are seen holding their hands high at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad.