United States President Donald Trump announced plans to firm up 'some wonderful trade deals' for India and the US as he hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for wide-ranging talks focussing on charting a new pathway for broadening the bilateral partnership, including in the areas of defence, energy, and critical technology.
At his Oval Office on Thursday, Trump welcomed Modi with a long handshake and a warm hug while describing the prime minister as a 'great friend' for a long time.
The two leaders made brief statements to the media and answered a number of questions before settling down for the crucial talks, hours after the American President announced a new reciprocal tariff policy for all the trading partners of the US.
"We are going to work with India also. We have separate big trade deals to announce in the very near future," Trump said while talking about his administration's trade policy.
"We are going to make some wonderful trade deals for India and for the US," he said replying to a question.
In his remarks, Modi congratulated Trump for becoming the president for a second term and recalled the upward trajectory of India-US relations during the American leader's first stint at the White House.
"I firmly believe that in your second term, we will work with more speed," Modi said.
"President Trump always keeps the national interest of the US supreme and like him, I also keep the national interest of India at top of everything else," he added.
In his remarks, the US President said: "We have some very big things to talk about; they (India) are going to be purchasing a lot of our oil and gas (from the US)."
"We have more oil and gas than any other country in the world and they (India) need it, and we have it," he said.
"He is doing a great job in India and he (PM Modi) and I share a great friendship and we will continue to build on ties between our nations," Trump added.
The prime minister and the President also answered questions on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
"I support Donald Trump's efforts towards finding a possible solution to end the war. The world somehow feels India has been neutral during the war. But I would like to reiterate that India has not been neutral. In fact, India has been on the side of peace," Modi said.
"When I met President Putin, I had even said that 'this is not the era for war'. I had also said that solutions cannot be found in the battlefield. They can only come when all parties sit at the table for dialogue," he added.
Before meeting Trump, Prime Minister Modi held separate talks with US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, billionaire Elon Musk and Republican leader Vivek Ramaswamy.
Modi kicked off his two-day visit to Washington DC on Wednesday evening (Thursday morning India time) after concluding his trip to France.
Ahead of the Modi-Trump meeting, diplomatic sources indicated that the focus of the talks will be on enhancing cooperation in areas of defence, energy, technology, infrastructure, and trade.
The Trump administration is particularly keen on expanding Washington's defence sales to India and the two sides may broadly finalise a couple of deals, including co-production of Stryker armoured fighting vehicles in India.
Besides defence, trade is another high priority area in the deliberations between the two leaders.
The reciprocal tariff policy is expected to have some impact on India's trade with US also.
Two days ago, Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on global steel and aluminium imports into the US. The move is expected to hit the Indian firms exporting steel and aluminium to the US.
India has already indicated its readiness to adopt a more conciliatory approach on the sensitive issue unlike its hardline approach during Trump's first term.
People closely tracking India-US ties said there is a possibility of both sides exploring the option of looking at a trade pact to avoid high tariffs and expand the overall trade basket.
The bilateral trade between India and the US was around $130 billion last year.
The prime minister's visit to the American capital comes days after the Trump administration deported 104 Indians in handcuffs and shackles in a military aircraft that sparked outrage in India.
Last week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in Parliament that New Delhi is in touch with the US to ensure that returning Indian deportees are not mistreated in any manner.
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