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US President Donald Trump has pushed India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to buy more American-made weapons, as he called for the countries to rebalance their trade relationship in a call late on Monday.
Trump emphasised that India should be increasing its “procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship”, according to a White House statement issued after the call between the leaders, which the US called “productive”.
Trump and Modi cultivated a close relationship during the US president’s first term, and New Delhi has been a strategic partner in Washington’s efforts to counter an increasingly assertive Beijing.
But Trump also called India a “very big abuser” on trade during his re-election campaign last year, and analysts pointed to areas of friction between the countries, such as their trade deficit, Indian imports of Russian oil and the flow of Indian immigrants to the US.
“The bilateral relationship is very likely to remain a strong one under Trump 2.0, yet transactional, in which President Trump will also require some concessions from India,” said Rani Mullen, a senior visiting fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi.
The US is India’s second-largest trading partner, narrowly trailing China, and New Delhi recorded a $35bn trade surplus with Washington between January and November 2024, according to the latest data from India’s commerce ministry. Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on Brics countries, a grouping of major emerging economies that includes India.
In a social media post late on Monday, Modi called Trump a “dear friend” and said they were “committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership” in several areas, including security.
Trump later told reporters that Modi would visit the White House “probably in February”, which would make the Indian leader among the first foreign dignitaries to visit since the US president’s inauguration.
Trump’s requests came as India, long the world’s largest arms importer, has been seeking to diversify its weapons suppliers beyond Russia. It has leaned on the US, along with other countries such as France, to close a gap in military technology and preparedness with regional rival China.
Modi has also pushed India’s military to support domestic arms manufacturers, part of his ambition for the defence and aviation industries to help make the country a global manufacturing power. Modi has set a target of $35bn for domestic defence production by the end of the decade, up from nearly $20bn last year.
New Delhi needs to upgrade its military capabilities if it is to match those of nuclear-armed neighbour China, according to analysts, including in fighter jets, submarines, tanks, helicopters and even assault rifles. While some domestic arms makers have such capabilities, India lacks critical knowhow for technologies such as military jet engines.
Trump and Modi also discussed expanding security co-operation in the Indo-Pacific region and reiterated their commitment to the Quad — a strategic grouping that also includes Japan and Australia — according to the White House. India is set to host the group’s leaders this year.
The call coincided with a visit by India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri to Beijing on Tuesday, during which the countries agreed in principle to resume direct passenger flights for the first time in five years. The routes were initially suspended during the Covid pandemic, and remained so after deadly border clashes in 2020 soured relations.
Trump said he and Modi also discussed immigration, a priority for the new US administration, adding that the Indian prime minister would “do what’s right” in terms of accepting the return of illegal Indian nationals from the US.
Indians made up the third-largest group of unauthorised immigrants in the US in 2022 after Mexico and El Salvador, according to the Pew Research Center.