Ice-breaker? Trump says ‘will always be friends’; Modi replies: Fully reciprocate

Hours later on Saturday morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he “deeply” appreciated and “fully” reciprocated “President Trump’s sentiments and positive assessment of bilateral ties.”

Modi’s statement is his first direct response on the issue since Trump announced his global tariff regime and 25 per cent on Indian goods in April, and added an extra 25 per cent last month over India purchasing Russian oil.

“I’ll always be friends with (Narendra) Modi, he’s a great Prime Minister,” Trump said. “He’s great. I’ll always be friends, but I just don’t like what he’s doing at this particular moment,” Trump said. “But India and the United States have a special relationship. There’s nothing to worry about. We just have moments on occasion,” he added with a smile.

PM Modi posted on X Saturday, “Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump’s sentiments and positive assessment of our ties. India and the US have a very positive and forward-looking Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership.”

Ironically, this exchange came barely a day after the chill had seemed to deepen when Trump posted on social media that the US had “lost” India to “deepest, darkest” China and his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, one of the prime interlocutors in talks on the bilateral trade deal, said that India had little option but to come back to the table and “say sorry.”

The image of the huddle between Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders in Tianjin last weekend provoked Trump to say “looks like we have lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest China…May they have a long and prosperous future together!”

Later in the day, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reposted PM’s post and, speaking to ANI, said: “Prime Minister Modi obviously attaches enormous importance to our partnership with the United States. Where President Trump is concerned, he (PM Modi) has always had a very good personal equation with President Trump. But the point is that we are, we remain, engaged with the United States, and at this time, I can’t say more than that. But that’s really what I would say.”

It is Jaishankar who will address the UN General Assembly on September 27. Modi will not address the General Debate at the annual high-level session, according to a revised provisional list of speakers issued in New York.

At the White House, Trump also said that he is “very disappointed” that India would be buying “so much” oil from Russia.

“I’ve been very disappointed that India would be buying so much oil from Russia, and I let them know that. We put a very big tariff on India, 50 per cent tariff, very high tariff. I get along very well with (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, he’s great. He was here a couple of months ago,” Trump said in response to a question on his social media post that the US has lost India and Russia to China.

To a question on how trade talks are going with India and other countries, Trump said, “They are going great. Other countries are doing great. We’re doing great with all of them. We’re upset with the European Union because of what’s happening with not just Google, but with all of our big companies.”