US President Donald Trump said on yesterday he had held a “very good” conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G7 summit in France and that their two countries were working on trade deals. Trump called Modi a “tough negotiator,” and told reporters that he would be going to India “sometime in the future”.
India has been pressing the US for months for a Trump trip, potentially as part of a meeting, including Japan and Australia. The two leaders’ meeting is their first since February 2025, when Modi visited Washington within weeks of Trump returning to the White House, and the two sides agreed to resolve their differences over trade and tariffs. Ties, however, have since deteriorated, with Washington imposing high tariffs on Indian goods, punishing New Delhi for purchasing Russian oil, and engaging closely with India’s arch-rival Pakistan.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited India last month seeking to repair ties, but the killing of three Indian sailors in attacks on commercial ships by the US Navy in the Gulf has roiled relations again. Modi told Trump, in the presence of reporters, that the safety of Indian seafarers working in the Strait of Hormuz region was of “utmost importance” to New Delhi.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that he hoped closer ties and undertaking joint projects with India would make both countries stronger. Zelenskiy, writing on Telegram after meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G7 summit in France, said there was “great potential” in “filling joint projects with more meaning”. “It is important that the prime minister is interested in developing mutually beneficial relations with Ukraine and sees that this partnership can make our people stronger,” Zelenskiy wrote.
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