PM, Trump review trade negotiations

Indicating a further thaw in India-US relations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to President Donald Trump tonight and probably ironed out a few wrinkles on the stalled trade deal.

PM Modi congratulated Trump on the “success" of the first phase of a US-brokered peace plan for Gaza and hailed the American leader for his efforts to end hostilities. The two leaders had broken through the acrimony of the US tariffs on September 17 when Trump called Modi and greeted him on his birthday.

This was the first contact between the two leaders since June 17. The relations between the two sides plunged to a new low in August and September as Trump imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Indian imports for buying Russian crude oil.

Modi tonight posted on social media platform X about his telephonic talk with Trump. “Spoke to my friend President Trump and congratulated him on the success of the historic Gaza peace plan. Also reviewed the good progress achieved in trade negotiations. Agreed to stay in close touch over the coming weeks,” he wrote.

However, in the September phone call, neither Modi nor Trump mentioned trade in their messages posted on social media accounts. The mention of trade in the PM’s post tonight indicated progress in the stalled trade deal, said an analyst.

On Sunday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said that any India-US trade deal that was finalised had to respect New Delhi’s “red lines”. Among other things, the “red lines” meant not allowing US imports in agriculture and dairy, which are the core of India’s rural economy.

Prior to September, the last conversation between the two leaders had taken place on June 17 when PM Modi rejected Trump’s repeated claims on the US mediating the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in May.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri then said that Modi had conveyed to Trump that “at no point during the entire sequence of events was there any discussion, at any level, on an India-US trade deal or any proposal for a mediation by the US between India and Pakistan”. Despite this public denial, Trump claimed credit for halting the fighting while his aides kept up a barrage of criticism against India.

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