Speaking to reporters in the run-up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Trump, the senior administration official recalled Trump’s personal bonhomie with Modi, Trump’s support to India during the border crisis with China in 2020, and claimed that within Quad, at the leader level, the relationship between Trump and Modi was the strongest. The official also described the US-India partnership as perhaps the “most critical partnership of the 21st century”, a phrase that now has bipartisan support given its frequent use by the last Democratic administration.
The official added that the Trump administration will continue to deepen technology cooperation with India, especially in the domains of semiconductors, critical minerals, and supply chain resilience and diversification with the aim of ensuring that “free societies” continue to be ahead in the race. Key announcements are expected in this regard after the leaders meet.
Laying the broad context of the meeting between the top leaders scheduled for Thursday evening eastern (early Friday morning IST), a second Trump administration official said that the President was “proud” of his close relationship with Modi, looked forward to building on the achievements of the last Trump administration, and the US was “proud of the substantial Indian diaspora” that had made “incredible contributions” in various fields.
The meeting’s core focus on Thursday is expected to be on defence, trade, energy, infrastructure and regional partnerships. “We will aim to build on defence sales to India to ensure they are prioritising the use of American technology. The President is also focused on unleashing American energy to the rest of the world and will prioritise India as a key importer of America’s natural resources to power their economy. The two leaders will discuss how to improve our trade relationship that brings down our bilateral trade deficit and ensure an expanded fair trade relationship. And expect President Trump and PM Modi to discuss how to build up the Quad partnership to promote stability and peace across the Indo-Pacific,” said the second senior administration official.
Distilling it to the specifics, when asked about the defence relationship, the first senior administration official said, “The defence portion of the partnership is strong and will continue to get stronger under this administration. India was the US’s first major defence partner. We are moving towards signing a new defence framework between India and the US. We are having conversations with them on a number of new procurements that will add to the relationship and bring down the trade deficit. Those talks are ongoing and moving in a positive direction.”
Asked about whether the issue of the alleged assassination plot of an American national where a then serving government of India official was implicated would be on the agenda of talks, the first official said, “President Trump prioritises nothing more than the safety of every American. You have seen this in recent days with respect to persons brought home. That is the continued position of this administration.”
In response to HT’s question on the implications of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs and the discussions with India on trade deficit and tariffs, the first official said, “There has been some early body language by the government of India which has been well-received by the Trump administration. These are early but modest steps. A lot more work to do. I expect what will be coming out of the meeting today is further momentum towards a solidified, fair – I emphasise fair – bilateral trade arrangement. The hope will be to have such a deal in place in the calendar year 2025.”
HT also asked the administration official about the future of the initiative on critical and emerging technologies (iCET) and tech cooperation. The first administration official said, “Technology is an important partnership, critical technologies between our economies, to ensure that free societies are leading the way on some of the most important technologies of the future. I expect that collaboration to continue under this administration and you will see some key announcements to that effect today. Some of the key areas – semiconductors, critical minerals, supply chain resilience and diversification – those are good things for our economy and the President certainly believes that too.”
Asked about India’s role in the context of the China strategy, the official said, “The President is very proud to have really augmented and strengthened the partnership with India in the summer of 2020 during the border crisis with Chinese. That portends continued cooperation. India is a critical part of Indo-Pacific strategy. That will continue.” The official added that the US-India partnership was a significant part of Indo Pacific strategy and was a core part of US national security focus. The partnership had economic and geopolitical elements. “This is one of the most critical, if not the most critical, bilateral partnership of the 21st century. President Trump is going to do his part to ensure that remains the foundational element moving forward.”
On whether the tariffs against China open up opportunity for India, the official said, “This heightens the opportunity set for Indians to be a part of strengthening supply chains, ensuring critical supply chains in tech cannot be weaponised against free societies. They take that opportunity seriously and it could be an opportunity for the bilateral to expand and evolve.” On whether Trump saw a role for India on Ukraine, the official said that India had a number of diplomatic relationships and would welcome a conversation about how to constructively move towards peace in Europe.
On the personal relationship between the two leaders, the official recalled there was “natural warmth” between the two leaders, they had done large public events together in both the US and in India, and said that the “goodwill and bonhomie” was real. “To a certain extent, that matters in diplomacy. With India hosting Quad leaders’ summit in fall, the bilateral connection at the leader-level is arguably the strongest between India and the US among the four parties.”
The official concluded by suggesting that the US envisaged a strong defence partnership and more defence exercises with India, the US had the ability to power the Indian economy with American energy sales, and pointed to deeper cooperation in West Asia with the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
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