US President Donald Trump has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “going to be coming to the White House, over next month, probably February”, and the White House said that during their phone call Monday, the two leaders also discussed plans for Modi to visit the US.
New Delhi and Washington are looking at February 14-15 as possible dates for Prime Minister Modi’s first bilateral visit to Trump 2.0 White House. This could be the first incoming visit for the Trump 2.0 administration within three weeks of being sworn in, if it is confirmed by both sides.
Modi is scheduled to travel to Paris for the Artificial Intelligence Action summit on February 10-11 and is likely to spend another day there. Trump has been invited but has not confirmed his attendance. If both leaders are there, then Modi and Trump are likely to meet on the sidelines of the AI Action summit and that could mean their bilateral in DC — what New Delhi prefers — may be deferred.
Sources said that the ball was set rolling for an early PM’s visit during External Affairs minister S Jaishankar’s visit to the US in the last week of December, when he met the incoming members of the Trump administration, including NSA designate Mike Waltz.
In that early outreach, the conversation was about a possible visit by the Indian Prime Minister at the earliest. This was also necessitated by Trump’s invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping in early December itself, sources said.
The Trump team, which understood the Indian sensitivities as it had Waltz, Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio and Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard as part of the team, sent feelers for a possible visit by the Indian PM for the inauguration.
The Indian side, at that time, wanted a “proper, structured bilateral meeting” on the sidelines of Trump’s inauguration but that was not seen as feasible by the incoming administration. The inauguration is a typically domestic affair and, sources said, the understanding in DC was that accommodating requests for foreign leaders would have opened the floodgates for the US President’s calendar — when his initial agenda was “strongly domestic-focused.”
Indeed, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and Argentina’s President Javier Milei did not get a proper bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the inauguration. Both had made quick trips to Mar-a-Lago before the inauguration.
New Delhi did not want Modi to go just for the Trump inauguration, without a bilateral meeting.
So a decision was taken to field Jaishankar for the inauguration as a representative of the Indian government and as special envoy of the Prime Minister. This differentiated him from the rest of the Foreign ministers of Australia and Japan — and he was given front-row protocol at the inauguration where he was seated alongside the President of Ecuador.
Washington was mindful of Indian sensitivities as Chinese Vice President Han Zheng was there, too, seated on the dais but behind the Trump family and the tech czars, including Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and his Cabinet colleagues.
Sources said that the PM’s visit — if it doesn’t happen in February — “should happen by April.” The thinking is that there should be an early visit by PM Modi, before Trump comes to India later this year for the Quad leaders’ summit.
This PM-level visit is being planned to smoothen the conversation on the tough issues of immigration and tariffs.
Talking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump was asked, “Did he (Modi) agree to take illegal immigrants?” “He (Modi) will do what’s right. We are discussing,” said Trump.
“I had a long talk with him this morning (Monday). He is going to be coming to the White House, over next month, probably February. We have a very good relationship with India,” Trump said.
“The leaders agreed to remain in touch and meet soon at an early mutually convenient date,” a Ministry of External Affairs statement had said, after the phone call.
“Everything came up (in a phone call with Modi),” Trump told reporters.
In a readout of a phone call between both leaders, the White House said that Trump had a “productive” phone call with Modi and sought a move towards a “fair” bilateral trading relationship and deeper India-US cooperation. “The two leaders discussed expanding and deepening cooperation. They also discussed a range of regional issues, including security in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe,” it said.
“The President emphasised the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship,” the White House said.
“The leaders discussed plans for Prime Minister Modi to visit the White House, underscoring the strength of the friendship and strategic ties between our nations,” it added.
Both Modi and Trump emphasised their commitment to advance the “US-India strategic partnership and the Indo-Pacific Quad partnership, with India hosting Quad Leaders for the first time later this year.”
(With agency inputs from US)
President Trump emphasised the need for India to increase its purchase of American-made defence equipment and to move towards a more balanced trade relationship. (File Photo) 
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