Former US President – and current Republican nominee – Donald Trump suggested on Monday that he will soon meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The latter will travel to the US later this week to participate in the United Nations General Assembly in New York as well as a summit of the leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, hosted by US President Joe Biden in Delaware.
Speaking at a town hall meeting in Flint, Michigan, Trump described Modi as a “fantastic” leader, but also referred to India as a “very big abuser” of trade ties, claiming that New Delhi imposes heavy tariffs on imports.
“He (Modi) happens to be coming to meet me next week,” Trump stated. “And Modi, he’s fantastic. I mean, fantastic man. A lot of these leaders are fantastic,” he said, referring to leaders of other developing nations such as Brazil and China. Trump said that if elected, he will initiate “reciprocal trade” with the countries that “abuse” tariffs.
“These people are the sharpest people… You know the expression, they’re at the top of their game, and they use it against us. But India is very tough. Brazil is very tough… China is the toughest of all, but we were taking care of China with the tariffs,” the Republican nominee stated.
Trump and Modi last met during the former president’s visit to India in February 2020. A year earlier, he had hosted Modi at the highly publicized ‘Howdy Modi’ event in Texas, which was attended by 50,000 people. In July, Modi condemned the assassination attempt against Trump, saying he was “deeply concerned” over the incident. “Violence has no place in politics and democracies,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Notably, the meeting between Modi and Trump hadn’t been announced before the GOP candidate mentioned it, and New Delhi has yet to comment on the matter.
The Indian Foreign Ministry in a statement on Tuesday said Modi will be in the US from September 21-23 to attend the fourth Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) meeting. The informal group includes Australia, India, Japan, and the US. The summit, which was initially supposed to be hosted by India, was shifted to the US at Washington’s behest. The meeting will be hosted by Biden in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware on September 21. India has agreed to host the next summit in 2025, according to the Hindustan Times.
Modi will address the ‘Summit of the Future’ at the United Nations General Assembly in New York as well as the Indian diaspora at a community event.