President Trump tried to get close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Indian leader ignored his calls several times during a disagree...
President Trump tried to get close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Indian leader ignored his calls several times during a disagreement over high tariffs.
The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said last month that Trump tried to get in touch with Modi four times. When the U.S. hit Indian imports with a harsh 50 percent tariff, including a 25 percent tariff for New Delhi's buy of Russian oil that Trump says is partly funding the war in Ukraine, this happened.
According to Indian official sources quoted by the news website Nikkei Asia, Trump recently tried to call Modi several times to find a middle ground. However, the Indian leader has constantly failed to answer the calls, which has made Trump even more angry.
Two people told the New York Times about Trump's missed calls, but White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Trump had never called.
According to the Times story, the White House has continued to praise the relationship between the two countries. They have said that the two leaders have "a respectful relationship" and "remain in close communication." The White House did not answer right away when the Daily Beast asked for a response.
To the contrary, the president was furious with India in a Truth Social post on September 1.
According to Trump, not many people know that India does a lot of business with the United States while we do very little.
To put it another way, they sell us a lot of things (we are their biggest "client") but we don't buy much from them. It's been this way for decades.
Trump went on, "Unfortunately, our companies can't sell to India because up until now, India has charged us the highest tariffs of any country." It has only been bad for one side! Indian also gets most of its oil and defense goods from Russia and not much from the US. A story from The Times said that Modi was also angry that Trump said he had ended the military war between India and Pakistan and should be given the Nobel Peace Prize. The situation got so bad that Modi turned down Trump's offer to visit the White House in June, when it looked like the administration was trying to set up a photo op, according to the Times.
By starting his Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump seemed to imply that things were getting better between the two. Donald Trump wrote, "I am happy to say that negotiations to remove trade barriers between the United States and India are still going on."
"I'm excited to talk to my good friend Prime Minister Modi in the coming weeks." “I am sure that it will not be hard to reach a good agreement for both of our Great Countries!” Modi called India and the U.S. "close friends and natural partners" in an X post on Tuesday that shared Trump's message. This could mean that the trade dispute is about to end. "I am sure that our trade talks will open the door to the partnership between India and the US reaching its full potential." Modi said, "Our teams are working hard to finish these talks as soon as possible."
He then said, "I'm also excited to talk to President Trump." We are going to work together to make sure that both of our people have a better and more successful future.
This is a big change from last Friday, when Trump wrote a mean post. On Truth Social, Trump posted a picture of Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi at a meeting in China. At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Tianjin, which was attended by leaders from over 20 non-Western countries, Putin and Modi were seen shaking hands. Trump wrote, "It looks like we've lost India and Russia to the deepest, darkest China." "I hope they have a long and happy life together!" Later that same day, reporters asked Trump about his claim that the US was "losing India." He changed his mind and said, "I don't think we have," adding that the US and India have a special bond. "As you know, I get along great with Modi. He was here a few months ago, and we went to the Rose Garden together," he said.
He was upset about the oil situation, though. "I've been very disappointed that India would buy so much oil from Russia," he said. Additionally, I told them that.
“Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump's sentiments and positive assessment of our ties,” Modi wrote on X in response to Trump's compliments on Friday. India and the US have a Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership that is very good and looks to the future. According to a new story from MSNBC, Trump has now asked the European Union to put taxes of up to 100% on goods from India and China because they continue to buy oil from Russia. Moscow is being pushed to end the war in Ukraine by this move.