New Delhi : Few meetings between world leaders evoke as much buzz and interest as those between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Donald Trump. Ever since their momentous meeting at the White House in February last year, the two leaders have somehow not managed to cross paths at major global summits.
We have to wait for June to find out. While India is not a permanent member of the G7, it regularly participates in the annual summits as a special invitee. This year, French President Emmanuel Macron invited PM Modi to the June 15-17 G7 Summit in Evian-les-Bains. But the story doesn’t end here. There is a reason why the headline of the report calls it “the big Modi-Trump meet”.
At the high-profile meeting, which came against the backdrop of tariff tensions, Trump called PM Modi a “great friend”, and the two pledged to double US-India trade to $500 billion by 2030. Every nook and corner he went, the US President would blurt out how he prevented the nuclear-armed countries from going all out through his trade threats.
The two leaders were expected to meet again on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Canada in June last year. However, Trump left the summit abruptly. The meeting had to be cancelled. However, Trump invited PM Modi to stop over in Washington on his way back from Canada. However, India declined the request as PM Modi had a scheduled visit to Croatia.
However, an NYT report, quoting government officials, said there was concern that Trump might attempt to push PM Modi into a photo-op with Pakistan’s Army chief Asim Munir, who was invited for lunch at the White House at the same time. In the following months, the India-US ties reached their lowest ebb, partly due to PM Modi’s refusal to do Trump’s bidding. The US imposed 25% reciprocal tariffs and an additional 25% for India’s purchase of Russian oil.
Trump and his attack dogs like Scott Bessent and Peter Navarro repeatedly castigated India, alleging that its purchase of Russian oil was funding Moscow’s war machine against Ukraine. The tariff tantrums were essentially a desperate bid by Trump to get India to agree to a trade deal skewed in the US’s favour. However, throughout, PM Modi maintained a stony silence and did not bend to Trump’s bullying.
But the Iran war and the US Supreme Court’s order striking down global tariffs halted the signing of a formal trade deal. The two leaders last spoke on April 17 over a 40-minute phone call. It was the third phone call between the two leaders this year. While the exact details of the call has been kept under wraps, PM Modi and Trump reviewed bilateral ties and the situation in Middle East.
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