Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a bilateral talk with US President Donald Trump, shortly after the Republic leader signed a measure to have reciprocal tariffs and called India “a very hard place to do business.”
PM Modi, who is meeting the US President after the January 20 inauguration, is the fourth global leader to meet Trump. Modi was accompanied by External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and India’s Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra.
The Indian Prime Minister was welcomed with a warm hug by the US President even as Trump has announced a series of trade and tariff reforms, that are expected to adversely affect New Delhi.
US President Donald Trump welcomes Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House in Washington, DC.
(Pic: Dan Scavino, White House Account/X) pic.twitter.com/4yI7ruzGRd
— ANI (@ANI) February 13, 2025
Trump, ahead of his meeting with Modi, announced a new reciprocal tariff policy for all the trading partners of the US, a move that could have some impact on India’s trade with the US as well.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi met Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Indian-origin entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and US NSA Mike Waltz.
VIDEO | Visuals of PM Modi arriving at White House for a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump.
(Source: Third Party) pic.twitter.com/myw73IYnEW
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 13, 2025
Ahead of the Modi-Trump meeting, diplomatic sources told news agency PTI 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, the report added. Besides defence, trade is set to be a high priority area in the deliberations between the two leaders as Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on global steel and aluminium imports into the US.
PM Modi, who is on a two-day visit to the US, is staying at the Blair House, the US presidential guest house at the heart of the US capital. The prime minister’s visit to Washington DC comes days after the Trump administration deported 104 Indians in handcuffs and shackles on a military aircraft that sparked outrage in India.
