Trump and Modi strike conciliatory tone, but core trade rifts remain

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday welcomed US President Donald Trump’s recent optimism over trade talks, insisting the negotiations would help realise the “limitless potential” of the India-US partnership. Writing on X, Modi called the two countries “close friends and natural partners” and said both sides were pushing to conclude the talks quickly.

His remarks followed Trump’s Truth Social post a day earlier, in which the US president said he saw “no difficulty” in achieving a “successful conclusion” and looked forward to speaking with his “very good friend” Modi in the coming weeks.

The conciliatory exchanges, however, mask the scale of the challenges still facing the relationship. Only weeks ago, Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent and introduced an additional 25 per cent levy in protest against India’s purchase of discounted Russian crude.

Washington described the imports as undermining Western sanctions on Moscow, while New Delhi defended them as being dictated by market realities.

Tensions had deepened further after Trump publicly vented “disappointment” at India’s oil trade with Russia and warned that the US had “lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest China”, posting an old image of Modi with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping at a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.

On Tuesday, 9 September, Beijing’s envoy in New Delhi had strongly criticised the Donald Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs of up to 50 per cent on Indian exports, describing the move as “unfair and unreasonable”.

Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong said the measure was a misuse of trade policy and called for India and China to step up cooperation to mitigate its impact.

Speaking at an event marking the 80th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in the Second World War, Xu argued that Washington was turning tariffs into a “weapon” to extract “exorbitant” costs from trading partners.

Despite these clashes, Trump has in recent days mixed sharp criticism with unusually warm words for Modi, portraying him as a “great Prime Minister” while simultaneously demanding trade concessions. Modi’s carefully worded responses have echoed the positive spin, but offered little substance beyond affirmations of friendship.

Analysts note that while both leaders appear keen to project stability, the underlying disputes over tariffs, energy policy and India’s balancing act between Washington and Moscow remain unresolved. The rhetorical thaw may calm tempers temporarily, but whether it translates into meaningful compromise on trade and strategic issues is far from certain.