PM Modi likely to meet US President Trump next month amid trade tensions
PTC News Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit the United States next month for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and expected to meet US President Donald Trump as trade tensions with India begin to simmer.
Besides meeting with Trump, PM Modi is expected to hold meetings with leaders including Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. The UNGA summit will be held in New York City in September. Global leaders will start arriving during the week starting September 23.
The meeting of the two leaders, if materialises, will be second in seven months after PM Modi visited the White House in February this year.
Amid the deadlock over a trade agreement, Trump escalated tensions by slapping a 25% tariff on Indian goods and an additional 25% duty over New Delhi’s continued imports of Russian oil, raising the total levy to 50%. Half of these tariffs took effect on August 7, with the remainder scheduled for August 27. In the run-up to that deadline, both sides are engaged in intense negotiations to finalize a trade pact.
A major sticking point in US–India relations remains India’s Russian oil purchases, which Washington argues are funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly criticized India over these imports, hoping that pressuring a key trading partner will push Moscow toward ending the conflict.
India, however, has pushed back strongly, accusing the US of double standards and noting that American firms continue buying uranium, chemicals, and fertilizers from Russia. New Delhi will also be watching closely when Trump meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 to discuss a potential resolution to the war, now in its fourth year.
- With inputs from agencies
