President Trump says US will help India if attacked under PM Modi’s leadership

POccupant Donald ruff said on wed that the US would facilitate bharat if the country were attacked while Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained in office, as the two leaders met for the first time in 16 months on the margins of the G7 Summit in France in an effort to repair bilateral relations that witnessed unprecedented strains over the past year.Modi praised Trump for his role in efforts to restore peace after the Iran-US conflict and, against the backdrop of the deaths of three Indian sailors in US attacks last week, pressed for measures to ensure the security of seafarers while implementing the peace deal to be signed in Geneva on Friday. He contended that their last meeting in Washington in February 2025 imparted “new speed and new energy” to bilateral ties and that both sides are working to achieve the targets set last year.Though Modi and Trump have spoken several times by phone since their last meeting and briefly exchanged pleasantries at an outreach session of the G7 Summit in Evian on Tuesday, this was their first in-person meeting since the Prime Minister travelled to Washington soon after the President’s inauguration last year. India-US ties fell to their lowest point in more than two decades when Trump slapped 50% tariffs on Indian exports, and the deaths of the Indian sailors in US strikes on merchant vessels off the coast of Oman cast a fresh shadow on relations.Trump offered to assist India in the event of any attack when he was asked about the India-US defence relationship at a joint media interaction with Modi ahead of their talks. “I think it’s a great [defence] relationship. I can tell you this – without having a contract, we don’t have a contract – but if they [India] were attacked, we would be there to help them. Is that a good statement?”, he said before shaking hands with Modi.“If anybody attacks that man [Modi], we’re going to be there. Now, if there’s a new leader, I’m not sure about it…but if they’re attacked and he’s the leader, we’re going to be there to help,” he said, before noting that he had a “great meeting” with President Xi Jinping during a visit to China last month.While emphasising his personal relationship with Modi, Trump said: “India can do anything they want with us, we’ve the best relationship. We cannot be closer than we are…I don’t think we can be any closer. Both him [Modi] and I and our nations, but it really starts with the two of us, we cannot be closer.”The US, he contended, has the world’s “strongest military”, which had effected a change of leadership in Venezuela in “48 minutes” and then “defeated Iran” in the first week of the conflict. Trump’s remarks appeared to be aimed at reassuring India amid his efforts to rebalance US relations with China.In his opening remarks, Modi commended Trump’s leadership of efforts to restore peace in West Asia and said: “Thanks to your efforts, Mr President, new hope for peace and stability in the region has been kindled and we hope this will lead to a long-standing peace in the region.”He said he and Trump agreed that keeping the Strait of Hormuz open is vital for the global economy and noted that India has consistently emphasised the importance of freedom of navigation. “We should work together and place particular emphasis on that,” he added.Modi pointed out that hundreds of thousands of Indian seafarers are performing their duties across global maritime trade routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, and making a huge contribution to the progress of the world, and that “their safety is of utmost importance to us”. He added, “Mr President, you have made tremendous efforts towards reaching this understanding and I’m confident that this agreement will ensure the security of seafarers and this issue will receive priority.”This was the second time in two days that Modi raised the security of Indian seafarers in Trump’s presence following US attacks on three merchant vessels with close to 70 Indian crew members in waters off Oman last week. The external affairs ministry summoned the most senior US diplomat twice to protest against the attacks, and the issue was also raised by external affairs minister S Jaishankar in a phone call with his US counterpart Marco Rubio.Trump responded to a question on whether he would offer any condolences to the families of the dead Indian seafarers by saying: “Yeah, I do. I heard about that. It’s a rough profession…and we work together on it. This has been happening throughout time, but we work together. We love all of those people. They’re great people.”He also said he believed India could play a role in West Asia: “I think India plays a big role in everything. As long as he’s [Modi] the leader, India’s going to play a big role.”Following the meeting, Modi said in a social media post that he and Trump “reviewed the sustained progress in our bilateral cooperation in trade, energy, defence, technology and people-to-people ties”. External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on social media that both sides reiterated their commitment to work together to advance the India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership for the benefit of the people of both countries and to “promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond”.While Modi did not refer to ongoing negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement with the US, Trump responded to a question on the issue by saying the two sides are “very close” to a trade deal.“We’ve been there for a little while. He’s [Modi] a very tough negotiator, one of the toughest, actually…He looks so nice, he’s like an angel but actually, he’s tough, he’s a killer…He’s a tough trader and he loves the Indian people, but he also loves the USA.”Trump’s remarks came ahead of a visit to India by the US Trade Representative to take forward negotiations on the trade deal, which is aimed at addressing issues such as US tariffs and market access. He also indicated a willingness to offer more opportunities to skilled Indian professionals and sell more energy to India.Asked about greater opportunities for Indian professionals in the US, Trump replied: “Oh, yeah, sure, I mean always. Yeah, we’ve always had tremendous relationships in terms of employment with India. Very talented people.”Trump, who last visited India in February 2020 during his first term, said he would be “going to India sometime in the future” but did not commit to specific dates for a visit. While brushing aside a question that some of his decisions had resulted in trouble for the bilateral relationship, he insisted that as long as he was President, India would have a “great friend in the White House”.With a US waiver on sanctions on Russian oil ending on Wednesday, Trump said the US administration was looking at the issue in the context of the fall in global oil prices. “It’s really tumbling. It’s, I guess, $74-$75 right now…It’s soon going to be at the number that it was four months ago…and on top of that, we will have an Iran without a nuclear weapon, which I can tell you the Prime Minister feels very strongly about too,” he said.