PM Modi and President Trump Discuss Strengthening India-US Partnership Amid Trade Negotiations

The call comes days after Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India.

New Delhi:

As speculation about an imminent trade deal between the two countries intensifies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump engaged in a phone conversation on Thursday where they explored expanding cooperation across various domains.

A statement revealed that the two leaders evaluated progress in the India-US partnership and discussed enhancing cooperation in key areas, including trade, critical technologies, energy, defense and security.

Emphasizing that both leaders expressed satisfaction with the "strengthening of bilateral cooperation" across sectors, the statement specifically mentioned trade and noted they "underlined the importance of sustaining momentum in shared efforts to enhance bilateral trade".

Both PM Modi and Trump, according to the statement, committed to working closely to address challenges and advance common interests.

"The leaders also exchanged views on expanding cooperation in critical technologies, energy, defense and security, and other priority areas that are central to the implementation of the India-US COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st century)," it stated.

Prime Minister Modi also shared about the call on X, describing the conversation as "warm and engaging," but did not reference trade.

Had a very warm and engaging conversation with President Trump. We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the U.S. will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 11, 2025

"Had a very warm and engaging conversation with President Trump. We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," he wrote.

Timing

Relations between the US and India have experienced a decline since a 25% penalty for New Delhi's purchase of Russian oil - in addition to 25% tariffs - was announced in July and implemented on August 27.

India has consistently called the tariffs unfair and expressed confusion about the reasoning behind them, noting that China is the largest buyer of Russian oil and the European Union purchases the greatest amount of LNG from the country.

Thursday's call follows Vladimir Putin's high-profile visit to India, which resulted in several agreements but garnered attention primarily for the close personal relationship between the Russian president and PM Modi, which was prominently displayed, including when the two leaders shared a car ride from the airport to the PM's residence.

President Trump's management of the relationship with India has been criticized by several leaders, who claim he has pushed one of US' most important allies closer to Russia.

A Democratic lawmaker even presented a photo of PM Modi and Putin sharing a car to the US Congress this week while delivering a critique of Trump's foreign policy.

"Trump's policies towards India can only be described as cutting off our nose to spite our face, and this is doing real and lasting damage to the strategic trust and mutual understanding between our two countries," Sydney Kamlager-Dove stated.

The timing of the call is also noteworthy as a US team is currently in Delhi for discussions regarding the bilateral trade agreement with India.

On Thursday, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal indicated that the talks are progressing well, but no deadline has been established for the trade deal.

"We had very good, substantive discussions. But I have said on record that a deal is only done when both sides stand to benefit. We should never negotiate with deadlines because you tend to make mistakes then," he explained.

Responding to a comment by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who mentioned that the US has received the "best-ever" offer from India, Goyal suggested that the Trump administration should then finalize the agreement.