New Delhi: Over a week after Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president for the second time, prime minister Narendra Modi spoke with him over the telephone, in a conversation in which the new American leader urged India to have a “fair” bilateral trading relationship and to buy more American weapons. Later, while speaking to reporters, Trump said that he discussed immigration too and a possible visiting date for Modi.
He added that he believed India will do “what is right when it comes to taking back illegal immigrants.”
Modi on Monday (January 27) wrote on X that he was “delighted” to speak with “dear friend” Trump and that the two “are committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership”.
According to the external affairs ministry, the two discussed “the situation in West Asia and Ukraine” – weeks after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza – and “reiterated their commitment to work together for promoting global peace, prosperity and security”.
While the White House readout of the phone conversation stated that they discussed regional issues, it also revealed that the US president had some significant requests from India.
“The President emphasized the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship,” it said.
‘Tariff king’
During his first term, Trump frequently criticised India for imposing high customs duties on Harley Davidson bikes, even dubbing the country as a “tariff king”.
Over the past decade, Russia has been India’s largest weapons supplier, although its share has gradually declined as New Delhi has shifted towards Western countries. The United States is now India’s third-largest weapons supplier, following Russia and France.
In 2017, when Trump began his first term, India purchased $282 million worth of US military equipment. Four years later in 2020, the annual value of India’s purchases had risen to around $3.36 billion, as per US government data.
Possible meeting
While India only said that they also agreed to “meet soon at an early mutually convenient date”, the White House announcement mentioned that “the two leaders discussed plans for Prime Minister Modi to visit the White House.”
Trump said to reporters later that Modi is likely to visit in February. This will make Modi among the first foreign leaders to visit Washington since Trump’s inauguration.
“I had a long talk with him this morning and he’s going to be coming to the White House in the next month, probably in February,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Trump is expected to visit India later this year, where a summit of the Quad leaders is scheduled to take place.
Upon Trump’s inauguration on January 21, Modi posted on X to congratulate and wish the US president well. He also called Trump when the latter was declared winner of the presidential election in November, saying he had “had a great conversation” with the president-elect and that he felicitated him for his “spectacular victory”.
The two are known to have shared a generally warm relationship during Trump’s first stint as president between 2017 and 2021, and Modi is one of the first foreign leaders whose phone calls Trump took upon winning the election.
Jaishankar-Rubio talk ‘migration’
Modi’s post also comes days after external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and his US counterpart Marco Rubio held a bilateral meeting in which Washington said they discussed “irregular migration”.
In the 2023-24 fiscal, US officials recorded 90,415 instances of Indian nationals being apprehended while allegedly trying to cross into the US via one of its land borders without documentation. A Pew Research report said there were over 700,000 undocumented Indians living in the US as of 2022.
Jaishankar acknowledged in a presser the next day that he and Rubio had discussed the “mobility of people” and that New Delhi was ready to accept Indians illegally living abroad – including in the US – as part of long-standing policy as long as their Indian nationality is verified.
While US government data suggests there are over 20,000 Indians who can potentially be deported, both Jaishankar and his external affairs ministry have cautioned against taking such numbers at face value, insisting that an accurate number will depend on verifying the nationality of such deportees.
When in Washington, Jaishankar had attended Trump’s inauguration on the Modi government’s behalf. While certain other foreign leaders were invited – such as Chinese President Xi Jinping, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Argentine President Javier Milei – the external affairs ministry when announcing that Jaishankar would visit the US did not say whether Modi had been specifically invited.
This report, first published on January 27, 2025, at 11:46 pm was republished at 8:00 am on January 28, 2025, with updates and more details. It was updated again at 10:20 am with details of what Trump told reporters.
