US President Donald Trump hints at possible India visit next year

Will let you know when there is something to share on this, says MEA

In a sign that India-United States relations could be recovering from the recent friction over the tariffs the White House imposed on Indian goods and negotiations on a trade deal that had reached an impasse, American President Donald Trump on Friday (India time) said he could visit India next year at the invite of his “friend” Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

 

“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 at the Oval office. The President spoke of Modi as a “great man”, and suggested the visit “could be” next year but did not elaborate upon any specific itinerary.

 

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) neither confirmed nor countered Trump’s comments on the possibility of the India visit, or whether the Quad summit, which New Delhi was scheduled to host this year, could now take place during Trump’s visit.  

 

“I do not have anything on this to share. I will let you know when I have,” MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said here at his weekly media briefing on Friday evening to questions whether Trump’s visit to India was in the works.

 

Neither did the MEA counter Trump’s assertion that India has stopped buying Russian crude oil.

 

The MEA, consistent with its stance over the past few months not to engage in a war of words with the American President, also sidestepped questions on Trump’s claim that eight fighter jets were shot down during the India-Pakistan conflict in May.  

 

In a related development, NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer (CEO) BVR Subrahmanyam on Friday expressed confidence that some positive news on India's proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the United States (US) will come by the end of this month.

 

Speaking at CNBC-TV18’s Global Leadership Summit, he said: “I think things have been a bit difficult with the US, and I think a reset is being tried. Trade negotiations are on... Hopefully, by the end of the month, we may hear some news on that front.”

 

Speaking to reporters at the Oval office, Trump said he could travel to India next year, emphasising that the Indian Prime Minister “wants” him to visit. When asked if he was planning to go to India next year, Trump said “It could be, yeah”.

 

India was slated to host leaders from Australia, Japan, and the US for the Quad summit in New Delhi after the 2024 summit was held in Wilmington, Delaware. With Trump’s statement, it is now evident that the summit cannot take place this year.

 

At his press briefing, Jaiswal said India viewed Quad as a valuable platform for discussion among the four Quad partners on matters of importance and interest to them in the Indo-Pacific region. The MEA spokesperson said Quad was making steady progress, and as part of the India Maritime Week in Mumbai, a Quad “ports of the future partnership” conference was held on October 29-30, and over 120 delegates from 24 countries, including from the four Quad members, participated.

 

At his press briefing, Trump again said India had stopped buying oil from Russia. “It’s great, going good. He (PM Modi) stopped ... Largely he stopped buying oil from Russia,” Trump said in response to a question on how talks with Modi and trade discussions with India were progressing.

 

Trump imposed 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on India and additional 25 per cent levies for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, bringing the duties imposed on India to 50 per cent.

 

In recent weeks, India’s purchases of Russian oil have declined.

 

Trump also reiterated his claim that he stopped the conflict between India and Pakistan in May, using trade as a weapon to do so. “Of the eight wars I ended, I would say five or six were ended because of tariffs. I’ll give you an example. If you take a look at India and Pakistan, they started to fight, they are two nuclear nations... They were shooting each other. Eight planes were shot down. It was seven. Now it is eight, because the one that was sort of shot down is now abandoned. Eight planes were shot down.”

 

“And I said, ‘Listen, if you guys are going to fight, I’m going to put tariffs on you’. And they both went, you know, they were not happy about that. And within 24 hours, I settled the war. If I didn't have tariffs, I wouldn't have been able to settle that war,” Trump said.

 

The President also termed tariffs a “great national defence”. India has consistently denied any third-party intervention.

 

Modi had last met Trump in February on his visit to the White House, and invited him to India. “On behalf of 1.4 billion Indians, I invite you to come to India,” Modi had said at a joint press conference in Washington during his visit. The two have not met since, with Modi skipping the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, while Trump has announced that he will not be travelling to South Africa to attend the G20 summit, which the Indian Prime Minister is likely to attend. The two, however, have spoken over the phone since September 16 on a few occasions.

 

Trump visited India during his first term as President in early 2020. “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 their joint press conference in February.

 

To a question on Trump’s comments about Pakistan’s nuclear activities, including testing, Jaiswal said: “Clandestine and illegal nuclear activities are in keeping with Pakistan’s history, which is centred on decades of smuggling, export control violations, secret partnerships, the AQ Khan network, and further proliferation. India has always drawn the attention of the international community to these aspects of Pakistan’s record. Against this backdrop, we have taken note of President Trump’s comment about Pakistan’s nuclear testing.”

 

Last week, Trump named Pakistan among the countries testing nuclear weapons.