Trump Says He Is 'Very Close' To India and Modi

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he is “very close” to India and shares a good rapport with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Trump stated this while addressing a joint press conference with Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, at Chequers, the country house of the prime minister of the United Kingdom.

Trump said he shares a good relationship with Modi and that he had wished the Indian PM on his 75th birthday on September 17. Modi had responded on X, saying, "thank you, my friend, President Trump, for your phone call and warm greetings on my 75th birthday."

On Thursday, Trump told reporters, “I'm very close to India. I'm very close to the Prime Minister of India. I spoke to him the other day to wish him a Happy Birthday."

"We have a very good relationship, and he put out a beautiful statement too. But I sanctioned them,” he said, in response to a question about his plans on dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump had extended greetings to Modi on Tuesday via call, a day before Modi turned 75, which is seen as a significant gesture to mend the relationship between the two countries which were strained over tariff issues.

The Trump administration had doubled the tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent, including a penalty of 25 per cent for India's purchase of Russian crude oil.

India has been maintaining that its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics, defending its purchase of Russian crude oil,

“Very simply, if the price of oil comes down, Putin is going to drop out. He's going to have no choice. He's going to drop out of that war,” Trump said, adding that he had also been compelled to impose sanctions on European nations and China for continuing to purchase oil from Russia.

“China is paying a very large tariff right now to the United States, but I'm willing to do other things, but not when the people that I'm fighting for are buying oil from Russia. If the oil price comes down, very simply, Russia will settle; and the oil price is way down, we got it way down,” he claimed.

Speaking of Putin, Trump noted the Russian President was his “biggest disappointment" as the war between Ukraine and Russia continues.

He also took credit for brokering ceasefire between India and Pakistan after the two countries engaged in military conflict in May, 2025.

“We did seven (conflicts) and most of them were not thought to be settleable. We did India, and we did Pakistan. That's two nuclear (countries),” he said.

“That was purely for trade. You [India and Pakistan] want to trade with us, you're going to have to get along. And they [India and Pakistan] were going at it hot and heavy,” he said.

While later, Pakistan formally recommended Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his “decisive diplomatic intervention.” India has maintained that peace was reached without the US President's intervention.