US President Donald Trump who has show conflicting views on India and its leadership, is back to praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he said, “I have a great respect for your prime minister (Modi). He is a fantastic man and a friend of mine. We are gonna have a good deal.” He was referring to the ongoing negotiations regarding the India-US trade agreement while responding to Moneycontrol.
This comes days after US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed that the trade agreement has been stalled because PM Modi did not call President Trump.
“It was all set up. I said [to the Indian side] you got to have Modi call the president. They were uncomfortable doing it, so Modi didn’t call,” Lutnick said on January 9.
However, Indian maintained that Lutnick’s remarks were “not accurate” and clarified that Modi and Trump spoke on the phone eight times in 2025.
“India and the US were committed to negotiating a bilateral trade agreement as far back as February 13 last year. Since then both sides have held multiple rounds of negotiations to arrive at a balanced and mutually beneficial trade agreement. On several occasions, we have been close to a deal,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on January 9.
Trump levied a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods in August. This included a penalty for buying Russian oil.
Recently, the Trump administration had invited India to join the international Gaza Board of Peace, which will be central to post-war governance and reconstruction of the Palestinian territory. Trump’s team also invited India to join the Pax Silica initiative, which aims to set up a supplu chain of AI infrastructure, semiconductors, critical minerals and more.
