New Delhi: India and the US are working on an early visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the foreign ministry said Friday, days after US President Donald Trump told reporters of a possible trip in February.
Modi and Trump were on a call earlier this week, and the two sides “were working on an early visit” of Modi to “further deepen India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership”, the ministry said.
“Specific dates for the visit would be announced at an appropriate time,” spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Friday at a regular press briefing.
The two leaders on Monday had their first telephone call since Trump’s presidency was inaugurated on 20 January for his second term. During the call, a visit by Modi to the White House was mooted.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to visit the US and meet Trump on 4 February, according to reports from his office. Netanyahu’s trip, if it takes place as scheduled, would be the first visit by a foreign leader to the White House in Trump’s second term.
Modi last visited the White House in June 2023 on an official state visit at the invitation of Joe Biden. In 2024, the Indian leader went to Wilmington, Delaware – Biden’s hometown – for the Quad Leaders’ Summit. He then spoke at the United Nations’ Summit of the Future in New York.
During the conversation with Trump on Monday, the US President urged the Indian leader to ensure “fair” bilateral trade between the two countries. In 2023-24, India exported roughly $77 billion worth of goods to the US, while importing around $42.1 billion.
The disparity in trade between the US and several countries has irritated the American president, who is looking to leverage the country’s commercial might to reduce overall deficit, especially with countries such as Canada and China, and the European Union bloc. Trump has threatened tariffs on Canada and Mexico from 1 February.
During the call, Trump also asked Modi to buy more American-made security equipment. Last year, India inked a deal worth roughly $4 billion for 31 Predator “drones”, while in 2023, New Delhi’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited signed a deal with General Electric to co-produce jet engines in India.
The US has become one of India’s top destinations for defence exports, after a number systems and subsystems worth over a billion dollars were sourced by American companies annually, as reported by ThePrint earlier.
Questions surrounding the future of Indians living illegally in the US are also bound to come up, given repatriation of unauthorised migrants has become a central issue of the nascent Trump presidency.
New Delhi on Friday reiterated that it welcomed the deportation of Indians provided they were bonafide nationals. “But I do want to emphasise that cooperation between India and the US is strong and effective in this domain. This will be evident in times to come,” said Jaiswal on Friday.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: Trump & Modi discuss PM’s potential visit to US in February, purchase of American security equipment