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New Delhi:<\/b> Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday appreciated and reciprocated US President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cpositive assessment\u201d of bilateral ties after the American leader said he would \u201calways be friends\u201d with Modi and pointed to a \u201cspecial relationship\u201d between the two countries.
Modi took to social media to respond to Trump\u2019s comments during a news conference at the White House hours earlier, marking the first positive exchange between the two leaders since they last spoke on the telephone on June 17. The tenor of the exchange was different from the criticism that Trump and his senior aides have directed against India and its leadership in recent weeks, largely over New Delhi\u2019s purchases of Russian oil.
\u201cDeeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump\u2019s sentiments and positive assessment of our ties,\u201d Modi said in a social media post. \u201cIndia and the US have a very positive and forward-looking Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership.\u201d
External affairs minister S Jaishankar said Modi attaches \u201cenormous importance\u201d to India\u2019s partnership with the US. \u201cWhere President Trump is concerned, he [Modi] has always had a very good personal equation with President Trump. But the point is that we remain engaged with the US, and at this time, I can\u2019t say more than that,\u201d he said.
Hours earlier, Trump was asked during the news conference about his social media post on Friday, in which he talked about losing \u201cIndia and Russia to deepest, darkest China\u201d \u2013 a reference to Modi being seen in the company of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin.
Asked specifically about who he blamed for losing India to China, Trump replied: \u201cI don\u2019t think we have [lost India]. I\u2019ve been very disappointed that India would be buying so much oil\u2026 from Russia. And I let them know that. We put a very big tariff on India \u2013 50% tariff, very high tariff.\u201d
He added: \u201cI get along very well with Modi as you know, he was here a couple of months ago. In fact, we went to the Rose Garden, the grass was so soaking wet, it was such a terrible place to have a news conference\u2026\u201d
Trump responded to another question about resetting ties with India by saying he would always be friends with Modi, though he didn\u2019t \u201clike what [Modi] is doing at this particular moment.\u201d
\u201cI will always be friends with Modi, he is a great prime minister, he\u2019s great,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI\u2019ll always be friends but I just don\u2019t like what he\u2019s doing at this particular moment, but India and the US have a special relationship. There is nothing to worry about.\u201d
Trump\u2019s comments came against the backdrop of continued criticism of the Indian government by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Navarro, whose criticism of India was rejected by the external affairs ministry on Friday as \u201cinaccurate and misleading,\u201d again accused India of profiteering from its Russian oil purchases.
Navarro responded to a report in The Washington Post, which said the inflammatory language of American officials was deepening the crisis in bilateral ties, by posting on social media: \u201cIndia highest tariffs costs US jobs. India buys Russian oil purely to profit\/Revenues feed Russia war machine. Ukrainians\/Russians die. US taxpayers shell out more. India can\u2019t handle truth\/spins.\u201d
Lutnick warned that India will have to face consequences if it doesn\u2019t align with the US. \u201cIf India doesn\u2019t support the US, they will have to pay 50% tariffs on exports to the US,\u201d he said.
He said he expected India to return to negotiations for a bilateral trade deal and \u201cthey\u2019re going to say they\u2019re sorry and they\u2019re going to try to make a deal with Donald Trump.\u201d
The India-US relationship is currently facing strains it has not seen in the past two decades, and the downturn in ties has played out publicly, largely because of Trump\u2019s social media posts and remarks assailing India and its leadership over continuing Russian energy purchases. The Indian side believes his public remarks betray the US president\u2019s frustration at being unable to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Modi and Trump last spoke on the phone on June 17, after they were unable to meet on the margins of the G7 Summit in Canada. That phone call was initiated at Trump\u2019s request and lasted about 35 minutes. Against the backdrop of Trump\u2019s repeated claims that he had brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan to end their hostilities in May and that he had used the issue of trade to get both sides to stop fighting, Modi told the American leader that a trade deal had not figured in any discussions between the Indian and US sides.
Modi also told Trump that there were no discussions on US mediation to end the hostilities, which stopped at Pakistan\u2019s request after an understanding was reached by the Indian and Pakistani militaries through existing channels. Modi also made it clear that India had not accepted any mediation by a third party in the past or present and would not do so in future.
On Friday, the external affairs ministry said it would not comment on Trump\u2019s social media post about losing \u201cIndia and Russia to deepest, darkest China.\u201d<\/p>\n