US President Donald Trump speaks often with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and trade teams from both countries continue to hold talks, the White House said on Tuesday.
“The president and his trade team remain in very serious discussions with India,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
“I know the president has great respect for Prime Minister Modi and they talk quite frequently.”
Trump said last week in South Korea that he wanted to reach a trade deal with India, signaling a thaw in relations that deteriorated to their lowest point in decades after the U.S. president doubled tariffs on Indian imports to 50 percent as punishment for India’s purchases of Russian oil.
Indian refiners reduced imports of Russian oil after Washington imposed sanctions last week on Moscow’s two main crude exporters, Rosneft and Lukoil.
Earlier this month, Trump claimed that Modi agreed to reduce Russian oil imports, something New Delhi has not commented on. A White House official said New Delhi had halved its purchases of Russian oil, but Indian sources said no immediate reduction had been seen.
On October 31, the United States and India signed a 10-year defense framework agreement.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the agreement a “cornerstone for regional stability and deterrence.” “We are improving our coordination, information sharing and technological cooperation,” he had said.
Days before that, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Malaysia, where the two discussed bilateral relations as well as “regional and global issues.”
