NEW DELHI, Sept 6: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday “deeply” appreciated the US President Donald Trump’s “Positive assessment” of the India-U.S. partnership after the American leader hailed the “special” relationship between the two nations — remarks seen as an attempt to check the downturn in the ties.
The Prime Minister’s comments on social media came hours after Mr Trump said at a news conference in the White House that he would always be “friends with Modi” but added without elaborating that he didn’t 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,” Mr Modi said.
“India and the U.S. 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 Mr Trump unleashed the tariff war imposing 50% tariff on Indian exports. India described the U.S. action as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.” Earlier, responding to a question on the possibility of the U.S. resetting relations with India, |Mr 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 U.S. president said.
Asked about his social media post on Thursday suggesting that the US was losing India to China, Mr 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 Mr Trump said it appeared that the U.S. was losing India and Russia to “deepest, darkest China.”
The post came days after the bonhomie among Prime Minister 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.
Meanwhile, the Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday said India would not sign any agreement with the US on farm produces imports at the cost of the Indian farmers. “The Prime Minister has said no pact will take place at the cost of farmers. Their interest will be protected,” Mr Chouhan said. He was responding to the question of whether there was any room to strengthen Indo-US relations by compromising a little on the import duty on U.S. farm produce.
To a question about the Opposition’s charge that Trump’s tariff shock led to the changes in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) structure, he said, “They see Trump behind every good work that happens in Bharat….Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown it to the world that the interest of the country is paramount for him, and there will be no compromise on it. “The interests of our farmers, poultry farmers, fishermen and the poor will be protected,” the Union Minister further said, adding that India takes its own decisions.
(Manas Dasgupta)