Modi And Trump Speak On Trade, Defence And Energy As Bilateral Agreement Nears
Prime Minister Modi called it a productive conversation, a day after India's foreign minister said the two sides had reached broad understanding on a trade pact
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| File Photo: @BohuslavskaKate on X |
"Had a productive conversation with President Trump," Modi wrote on X. "We reviewed our bilateral cooperation in trade, defence, energy, critical technologies and other areas. We agreed to maintain close engagement to take our Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership forward."
The two leaders also exchanged views on regional and international issues, he said, including efforts to advance global peace and security. The White House had not published its own account of the call at the time of writing.
The conversation comes a day after India's external affairs minister, S Jaishankar, said in New York that the two countries had reached what he described as more or less an understanding on a trade agreement, and that concluding one would put the relationship on a better footing.
Negotiations have run for the better part of two years and through a difficult stretch. Washington raised tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent in the second half of 2025, combining a reciprocal duty with a penalty linked to India's purchases of Russian energy. In February this year, after a call between the two leaders, the countries issued a joint statement setting out a framework for an interim agreement. Trump signed an executive order removing the additional 25 per cent duty, and the United States said it would lower the reciprocal tariff to 18 per cent.
The picture shifted again when the US Supreme Court invalidated tariffs imposed under emergency economic powers, prompting Washington to rebuild its tariff structure on a different legal basis. Most Indian goods now pay the normal US duty plus a 10 per cent duty imposed in July under a separate trade statute. No text of the interim agreement has been published.
EAM Jaishankar acknowledged that complexity this week. A trade negotiation, he said, required a certain amount of time, and the question now was at what point to close out an agreement that is very far advanced.
Beyond trade, the relationship runs through defence procurement, civil nuclear cooperation, semiconductors and critical minerals. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met senior US State Department officials in New York last week on critical and emerging technologies, semiconductors, energy security and civil nuclear cooperation.
India and the United States describe their relationship as a Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, the designation Modi has used in his post. The two leaders last spoke publicly in the early part of this year.