PM may visit US in Feb; Trump flags tariffs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit the US in February, the announcement coming from President Donald Trump on a day he also warned India if its “high tariffs continued to harm American interests”.

Trump announced Modi’s visit to the White House after a phone call between the two leaders on Monday. This would mark the first engagement between the two leaders following the change of guard in the White House.

At an event in Florida, the US President called out India, China and Brazil for being “high-tariff countries”. Trump, who took charge as the President for the second term on January 20, said his government would not allow the three to continue down this road.

“We are going to impose tariffs on outside countries and outside people who really mean harm to us. Look at what others do. China is a tremendous tariff maker, and India and Brazil and so many other countries. They mean us harm, but want to make their country good. We are not going to let that happen any longer because we are going to put America first,” said Trump.

In the phone call with PM Modi, Trump is also learnt to have told India to “increase procurement of America-made military equipment”. “The President also signalled a policy shift saying the US will establish a very fair system where money will flow into its coffers and America will turn very rich again,” said Trump. He said this would happen “very quickly”.

The White House, in a statement issued after the phone call, mentioned two important parts of the US-India relationship—bilateral trade and defence industrial partnership. “President Trump had a productive call with PM Modi and sought a move towards a fair bilateral trading relationship and deeper India-US cooperation. They also discussed a range of regional issues, including security in the Indo-Pacific, Middle East and Europe,” the White House said.

PM Modi’s last bilateral meeting with a US President was in September last year when he met Joe Biden at Wilmington, Delaware, on the sidelines of the Quad summit.

Trump and Modi have enjoyed a friendly relationship in the past. During his first term, Trump’s last foreign trip as President was to India. The two addressed two different rallies in Houston in September 2019 and in Ahmedabad in February 2020. Modi was among the top three world leaders to speak with Trump after his electoral victory in November 2024.