Modi – Trump Telephonic Talks Discussing Expanding Cooperation
NEW DELHI, Dec 11: As speculation about an imminent trade deal between the two countries gather steam, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the United States President Donald Trump spoke over the phone on Thursday and discussed expanding cooperation between the two countries in various areas.
A statement said the two leaders reviewed progress in the India-US partnership and discussed expanding cooperation in key areas, including trade, critical technologies, energy, defence and security.
Stressing that both leaders expressed satisfaction at the “strengthening of bilateral cooperation” across sectors, the statement mentioned trade specifically and noted they “underlined the importance of sustaining momentum in shared efforts to enhance bilateral trade.” Both PM Modi and Trump, the statement said, agreed to work closely to address challenges and advance common interests.
“The leaders also exchanged views on expanding cooperation in critical technologies, energy, defence and security, and other priority areas that are central to the implementation of the India-US COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st century),” it said.
Prime Minister Modi also posted about the call on X, terming the conversation “warm and engaging”, but did not mention trade. “Had a very warm and engaging conversation with President Trump. We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity,” he wrote.
Ties between the US and India have seen a slide since a 25% penalty for New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil – in addition to 25% tariffs – was announced in July and took effect on August 27. India has repeatedly termed the tariffs unfair and said it was perplexed by the logic behind them because China was the biggest purchaser of Russian oil and the European Union buys the largest amount of LNG from the country.
Thursday’s call comes days after Vladimir Putin’s high-profile visit to India, which saw several deals being signed but was probably noticed more for the close personal relationship between the Russian president and PM Modi, which was on ample display, including when the two leaders carpooled from the airport to the PM’s residence.
President Trump’s handling of the relationship with India has been slammed by several leaders, who have said he has ended up pushing one of US’ most important allies even closer towards Russia. “Trump’s policies towards India can only be described as cutting off our nose to spite our face, and this is doing real and lasting damage to the strategic trust and mutual understanding between our two countries,” Sydney Kamlager-Dove said.
The timing of the call is also significant because a US team is in Delhi for discussions on the bilateral trade agreement with India. On Thursday, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the talks were going well, but no deadline has been set for the trade deal.
“We had very good, substantive discussions. But I have said on record that a deal is only done when both sides stand to benefit. We should never negotiate with deadlines because you tend to make mistakes then,” he said. Reacting to a remark by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer saying that the US has received the “best-ever” offer from India, Goyal said the Trump administration should then sign on the dotted line.
(Manas Dasgupta)
