PTI
New Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday “fully reciprocated” US President Donald Trump’s “positive assessment” of the India-US partnership and his appreciation of the “special” relationship between the two nations, signalling an intent by both the sides to check the downturn in their ties.
Modi’s comments on social media came hours after Trump said at a news conference in White House that he will always be “friends with Modi” but added without elaborating that he did not like what the Indian leader was doing at this “particular moment”.
“Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump’s sentiments and positive assessment of our ties,” Modi said. “India and the US have a very positive and forward-looking Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership,” he noted on X. It was the first exchange of views between the two leaders after they held a phone conversation on June 17.
The relations between New Delhi and Washington are on a major downturn after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50%, including 25% additional duties for India’s purchase of Russian crude oil. India described the US action as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
Earlier, responding to a question on the possibility of the US resetting relations with India, Trump said both countries have a special relationship and there is “nothing to worry about”.
“I will always be friends with Modi, he is a great prime minister, he’s great. I’ll always be friends but I just don’t like what he’s doing at this particular moment,” he said. “But India and the United States have a special relationship. There is nothing to worry about,” the US President said.
Asked about his social media post on Thursday suggesting that the US was losing India to China, Trump said: “I don’t think we have. I have been very disappointed that India would be buying so much oil…From Russia.”
“And I let them know that, we put a very big tariff on India – 50% tariff, very high tariff. I get along very well with Modi as you know, he was here a couple of months ago.”
“In fact, we went to the Rose Garden, the grass was so soaking wet, it was such a terrible place to have a news conference. We had a news conference on the grass, it was my last news conference we had on the grass.”
In his social media post on Thursday, Trump said it appeared the US was losing India and Russia to “deepest, darkest China”. The post came days after the bonhomie between Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese city of Tianjin drew global attention.
In the last few days, several Trump administration officials, including White House trade advisor Peter Navarro, have used offensive language to target India.
India’s big oil lobby has turned the largest democracy in the world into a “massive refining hub and oil money laundromat for the Kremlin”, Navarro said last week.
India on Friday rejected Navarro’s remarks describing them as “inaccurate and misleading”.
Over the last few weeks, India-US ties witnessed severe strain after over two decades of close cooperation.
The tension began after the negotiations for a trade deal hit a roadblock as well as Trump’s repeated claims that he resolved the military conflict between India and Pakistan in May. India has been maintaining that the conflict ended following direct talks between the two sides.
Over the last few months, India and the US held several rounds of negotiations for a bilateral trade deal but it could not be sealed in view of sharp divergences in certain critical areas including agriculture and dairy.
The bilateral trade between India and the US was around $130 billion last year and there was a projection of upward mobility in the volume. The US has also been targeting India for its energy ties with Russia.
Defending its purchase of Russian crude oil, India has been maintaining that its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics.
India turned to purchasing Russian oil sold at a discount after Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow and shunned its supplies over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Consequently, from a mere 1.7% share in total oil imports in 2019-20, Russia’s share increased to 35.1% in 2024-25, and it is now the biggest oil supplier to India.
