This is not an easy time for Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to plan an international trip. The country is only months away from federal and provincial elections. The Nepali Congress president is under immense pressure both from inside his own party as well as from coalition partners to work out a viable seat-sharing formula for the polls. His finance minister is under parliamentary investigation for allegedly benefitting vested interests in the new budget. Some suspect Deuba too could be dragged into the ‘CCTV-gate’. Meanwhile, he is under intense scrutiny of China, a close neighbor, for supposedly doing American bidding.

Amid such turbulent political climate and right on the eve of big elections, Deuba would not want to ink something remotely controversial with the Americans. In fact, he has already vowed to opt out of the American State Partnership Program (SPP), which has of late come into controversy in Nepal for its links to the anti-China Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS). Preparations for Deuba’s visit were in full swing until the SPP controversy erupted. Nepal’s decision to stay out of the SPP has added to confusion around the visit’s timing and agenda.

Dinesh Bhattarai, a foreign affairs advisor to two Nepali prime ministers, sees the visit as a wonderful opportunity to “to brief the Americans about Nepal’s position on the SPP, which will help build better understanding between the two sides”. Deuba could also use the visit to make a case for duty-free access to Nepali goods in the American markets. Others suggest he make a case for more leadership roles for Nepalis in UN peacekeeping missions. The million-dollar question is: Will the Americans even be willing to listen if Deuba tells them that his country just cannot accept the SPP, the fulcrum of recent Nepal-China engagement?