US President calls PM Modi a very ‘tough negotiator and a killer’ during the bilateral meet on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in France.
Evian (France): US President Donald Trump has promised to visit India in the near future, during a bilateral meeting at the G7 summit in France, signalling a thawing of relations between the two countries.
In a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 Summit here, Trump said it would take place "sometime in the future", adding India and the US were close to agreeing on a trade deal.
Trump has been expected to visit India for several months now, potentially as part of a Quad meeting with Japan and Australia.
Questioned on the US-India defense relationship, Trump said America would "help" India if they were “attacked". Referencing Modi, he said: "If anybody attacks that man, we're going to be there... Now, if there's a new leader, I'm not sure about it.”
The meeting at the G7 marked a significant tonal shift in the relationship. Trump praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "very tough negotiator.” “
We have been there for a little while. He is a very tough negotiator. One of the toughest. He is the most beautiful-looking man, he looks so nice, he is like an angel. But actually, he is just tough, he is a killer,” said the US President.
"But he looks so good, he gets you by surprise. People say he is such a nice man, I say he is very tough, he is a tough trader," the US president said, as Modi sat beside him smiling. "And he loves the Indian people. But he also loves the US," Trump said as he referred to the "Howdy, Modi!" event held in Texas in 2019.
Trump said, "We will be going to India sometime in the future." He recalled his 2020 India visit and said he had a "great time", highlighting the large crowd that had gathered to see him. The remarks came during a press briefing after talks between the two leaders on the sidelines of the G7 Summit held in this French commune.
India-US trade deal ‘very close’
Both the leaders noted with particular satisfaction the significant progress made in negotiations towards an interim Bilateral Trade Agreement and instructed their officials to work towards a "balanced, mutually beneficial, and commercially meaningful agreement at the earliest".
The US Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, will be visiting India next week in this connection. Prime Minister Modi and President Trump reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership and advancing cooperation across all domains for the mutual benefit of the two countries and their people.
"Highly skilled Indians will get more opportunities," Trump said while responding to a media query. He also described India as a country with “very talented people" and said the two nations “cannot be closer."
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Indians' safety ‘utmost important’: Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue, in broad terms, of the safety of seafarers with US President Trump at the start of their bilateral meeting in Evian, France. “Mr President, you are aware that across the world, Indian seafarers in the hundreds of thousands are working and performing their duties across global maritime trade routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, and their safety is of utmost importance to us,” Modi said, referring to the killing of three Indian seafarers in a US strike last week off the coast of Oman. “I’m confident that the issue of seafarers will receive the highest priority during the implementation of this agreement,” Modi said. Trump was asked by a reporter if he had words of condolence for the grieving families of the sailors. “I heard about that. It’s a rough profession. There’s no question about it,” he said, adding, “This has been happening throughout time, but we work together. We love all of those people.” Trump said Iran would not have a nuclear weapon and that Modi felt “very strongly” about that as well. |
