Modi In US: President Donald Trump has said that the United States will be keen on selling oil and gas to India during a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House Friday. He also said that the U.S. will focus on having more trade with India even as Washington imposed stiff tariffs on India just hours before Trump was to meet Modi in Washington.
“It’s a great honour to have PM Modi of India. He is a great friend of mine for a long time. We have had a wonderful relationship and we kept the relationship during our 4 year period…We have just started up again. We have, I think, some very big things to talk about,” President Trump said during his opening statement before sitting for a bilateral meeting with Modi.
He said, “Number 1 is, they are going to be purchasing a lot of our oil and gas. We have more oil and gas than any other country in the world. They need it, and we have it. We are going to talk about trade. We are going to talk about many things. But it’s really an honour to see you, you have been my friend for a long time. Congratulations on having done a great job.”
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Addressing the media jointly, Prime Minister Modi said he has always appreciated the fact that President Trump has always given priority to securing his country’s national interest.
These remarks by PM Modi came even as his “friend” Trump gave an order to impose tariffs on Indian exports to that country. “India traditionally is the highest, just about the highest tariff country. They charge more tariffs than any other country. But I mean what they charge we’re going to be charging them. It’s a beautiful simple system. We don’t have to worry about charging too much or too little,” said Trump just hours before he was to meet Modi.
In a direct hint to Modi Trump also said, “Don’t expect any exemptions or waivers … India imposes more tariffs than any other country.”
“Traditionally, India is right at the top of the pack pretty much. There are a couple of smaller countries that are actually more but India charges tremendous tariffs. I remember when Harley Davidson couldn’t sell their motorbikes in India because of the fact that in India – the tax was so high, the tariff was so high,” added Trump.
Modi, on the other hand, told Trump, “I am delighted to see you back in the White House I congratulate you on behalf of 140 crore people of India…People of India gave me an opportunity to serve as PM for the third time…in this term, I have the opportunity to work with President Trump once again for the next 4 years, and it is a great pleasure…I can say from my past experience of working with you in your first term, we will continue to advance India-US strategic partnership with the same bond, same trust and the same excitement.”
‘Make America Great Again Is Inspiring’
The PM also said “US is the world’s oldest democracy and India is world’s largest democracy so when India and US come together, we make 1+1=11 not 2, and this is the power of 11 that is going to work for the welfare of humanity. I thank my friend President Donald Trump from the bottom of my heart and we together resolve that we will together march towards progress and prosperity of our nations.”
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Modi also said he finds Trump’s slogan of ‘Make American Great Again’ “inspiring” and it resonates with his vision of ‘Viksit Bharat.’
When asked about China, President Trump said, “We are in a very great shape to beat anybody we want. But we are not looking to beat anybody, we are looking to do a really good job. We have done a fantastic job for the American people. We had a great 4 years and we were interrupted by a terrible administration…Now, we are putting it back together. I think it is going to end up being much stronger than it was before or even much stronger than it was before.”
On Bangladesh, President Trump said, he will “leave Bangladesh to the Indian PM.”
When asked about the Russia-Ukraine war, Modi said “India is not neutral. India has taken the side of peace.” He also said he is hopeful that President Trump will find a solution to the ongoing conflict. Modi added that he already told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the solution to the war cannot found on the battlefield.
