Trump says he plans to visit India at Modi’s invitation
US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepare to shake hands as they attend a joint press conference at the White House in Washington, DC, US, February 13, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
KEVIN LAMARQUE
US President Donald Trump said he would visit India at the urging of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the latest sign of a possible thaw in a trade dispute that has soured the two countries’ relationship.
“He’s a friend of mine, and we speak, and he wants me to go there, and we’ll figure that out, I’ll go,” Trump told reporters on Thursday, calling Modi a “great man.”
Trump said the visit “could be” next year but otherwise declined to provide a timeline for a trip.
“I do not have anything on this to share,” Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, said at a briefing in New Delhi on Friday regarding Trump’s visit. “I will let you know when I have.”
During his February visit to the White House, Modi had invited Trump to India. “On behalf of 1.4 billion Indians, I invite you to come to India,” the Indian leader had said at a joint press conference in Washington during his visit. But relations between the two countries deteriorated rapidly after that.
Trump earlier this year slapped 50 per cent tariffs on India’s exports to the US in part to pressure New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil. That added tensions to an already contentious negotiation over what the US has cast as India’s high levies and other barriers on American goods.
In recent weeks, Trump has said that Modi has pledged to wind down purchases of crude from Russia and expressed optimism about trade talks.
While some officials in New Delhi have indicated that India is close to signing a trade deal with Washington, others — including the Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal — have sent mixed signals, saying the country won’t be pressured into finalizing any agreement.
It is also unclear if the recent warmth between the two leaders will last. Despite sharing a close relationship, the alliance between Trump and Modi has been strained by the US leader’s repeated claim that he deserves credit for brokering a truce in a four-day armed conflict between India and Pakistan.
Trump’s last presidential visit to India came over five years ago, during his first term. “The people of India still remember your visit of 2020, and hope that President Trump will come to them once again,” Modi had said at the February press conference.
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Published on November 8, 2025
