From trade and defence to emerging tech and AI: Key takeaways from PM Modi’s meeting with US President Donald Trump

📌 US-India COMPACT — Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology for the 21st Century — to drive transformative change across key pillars of cooperation – defence, investment and trade, energy security, technology and innovation, multilateral cooperation, people to people connection.

Defence

📌 A new ten-year Framework for the US-India Major Defence Partnership in the 21st Century — to be signed this year.

📌 US platforms rising in Indian services — US would expand defence sales and co-production with India to strengthen interoperability and defence industrial cooperation. Javelin and Stryker to be pursued.

📌 Procurement of 6 additional P8I following agreement sale terms.

📌 Review of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), in order to streamline defence trade, technology exchange and maintenance, spare supplies and in-country repair and overhaul of US-provided defence systems.

📌 Opening negotiations this year for a Reciprocal Defence Procurement (RDP) agreement.

📌 Accelerate defence technology cooperation across space, air defence, missile, maritime and undersea technologies.

📌US announcing a review of its policy on releasing fifth generation fighters and undersea systems to India.

📌New initiative — The Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA) –  scale industry partnerships and production in the Indo-Pacific. Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance refers to India-US cooperation in the area of underwater domain awareness technologies. The US has offered a few co-production and co-development opportunities for UDA technologies, on commercial basis. India is the very first country with whom US defence industry has offered to work with on these sensitive technologies.

📌 Enhanced logistics and intelligence sharing; and security cooperation engagements.

Trade and investment

📌New goal for bilateral trade — “Mission 500” — aiming to more than double total bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.

📌First tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall of 2025. demonstrate mutual commitment to address bilateral trade barriers. Trump has imposed reciprocal tariffs early in the day.

📌Recognition of Indian investments in US — Indian companies ongoing investments worth over $7.355 billion — 3,000 high-quality jobs for local families.

Technology and innovation

📌Launch of US-India TRUST (“Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology”) initiative will catalyse government-to-government, academia and private sector collaboration to promote application of critical and emerging technologies in areas like defence, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum, biotechnology, energy and space.

📌 Forward a US-India Roadmap on Accelerating AI Infrastructure by the end of the year.

📌 US and India will work together to enable industry partnerships and investments in next generation data centers, cooperation on development and access to compute and processors for AI.

📌 Launch of INDUS Innovation — an innovation bridge modelled after the successful INDUS-X platform, that will advance US-India industry and academic partnerships and foster investments in space, energy, and other emerging technologies.

📌Pharma: expand Indian manufacturing capacity, including in the US, for active pharmaceutical ingredients for critical medicines.

📌Launch of the Strategic Mineral Recovery initiative — a new US-India cooperative program to recover and process critical minerals (including lithium, cobalt, and rare earths) from heavy industries like aluminium, coal mining and oil and gas.

📌 MoU signed — new partnership between the US National Science Foundation and the Indian Anusandhan National Research Foundation in researching critical and emerging technologies.

Energy security

📌 Re-committed to the US-India Energy Security Partnership, including in oil, gas, and civil nuclear energy.

📌 US support for India to join the International Energy Agency as a full member.

📌 Fully realize the US-India 123 Civil Nuclear Agreement by moving forward with plans to work together to build US-designed nuclear reactors in India through large scale localization and possible technology transfer.

📌 Unlock plans to build large US-designed reactors and enable collaboration to develop, deploy and scale up nuclear power generation with advanced small modular reactors.

People to people

📌 Recognition of 300,000 strong Indian student community contribution of over $8 billion annually to the US economy which helped create several direct and indirect jobs.

📌 Strengthen collaborations between the higher education institutions through efforts such as joint/dual degree and twinning programs, establishing joint Centres of Excellence, and setting up of offshore campuses of premier educational institutions of the US in India.

📌 Committed to streamlining avenues for legal mobility of students and professionals, and facilitating short-term tourist and business travel, while also aggressively addressing illegal immigration and human trafficking.

📌 Strengthen law enforcement cooperation to take decisive action against organized crime syndicates, including narco-terrorists, human and arms traffickers as well as other elements who threaten public and diplomatic safety and security, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of both nations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves from the stairs of his plane upon his arrival in the US. (Photo: AP)

Multilateral cooperation

📌 Reaffirmed commitment to Quad and Indo–Pacific.

📌 Quad Leaders’ Summit — PM to host President Trump.

📌 Plan to convene partners from the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor and the I2U2 Group within the next six months in order to announce new initiatives within 2025.

📌 Launched the Indian Ocean Strategic Venture — new bilateral, whole-of-government forum to advance coordinated investments in economic connectivity and commerce. Meta’s announcement of a multi-billion, multi-year investment in an undersea cable project – begin work this year and ultimately stretch over 50,000 km to connect five continents and strengthen global digital highways in the Indian Ocean region and beyond.

📌 Plans to build new plurilateral anchor partnerships in the Western Indian Ocean, Middle East, and Indo-Pacific to grow relationships, commerce and cooperation across defence, technology, energy and critical minerals.

📌 Condemned terrorism; called out Pakistan — to bring perpetrators of 26/11 and Pathankot to justice; and ensure that its territory is not used to carry out cross-border terrorist attacks.

📌 US announced that the extradition to India of Tahawwur Rana has been approved.

📌 Khalistan — strengthen law enforcement cooperation to take decisive action against organized crime syndicates, including narco-terrorists, human and arms traffickers as well as other elements who threaten public and diplomatic safety and security, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of both nations.

📌 Rejecting any role of the “deep state” of the US in the affairs of Bangladesh, Trump said that he will leave the issue to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

📌 Modi, when asked about whether the action on the Adani group was discussed with Trump, said, “Firstly, India is a democratic country, and our culture and our philosophy means that the entire world is a family. Every Indian is my own family member. And when it comes to such personal matters, two leaders of two countries will not get together on that topic and discuss anything on an individual matter.”