- US President Trump praised PM Modi as a fantastic person and friend at Davos summit
- Trump expressed optimism about signing a good trade deal with India soon
- US-India trade talks stalled after US imposed 25% tariffs on Indian goods in August
US President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "fantastic" person, and expressed optimism of a signing a "good" trade deal with India. His remarks came at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, where he delivered an hour-long speech on Wednesday.
"I have great respect for your Prime Minister. He's a fantastic man and a friend of mine. We are going to have a good deal," an Indian publication quoted Trump as saying.
India and the US have been locked in trade deal negotiations since last year. The talks derailed in August, after Trump slapped 25% so-called reciprocal levies on India, and added another 25% tariffs to penalise New Delhi for its continued purchase of Russian crude oil.
The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a recent press briefing, said the two sides remain in dialogue and were close to finalising the trade deal on "several ocassions" in the past year.
Earlier this month, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said while speaking at a podcast that India was asked to seal the trade deal last year, and was given "three Fridays" to arrange a phone call between Modi and Trump. However, New Delhi was "uncomfortable" in setting up the call, he claimed.
“So I said — You got to have Modi, it's all set up. You have to have Modi call the president. And they were uncomfortable doing it... So, Modi didn't call,” the Trump aide said on the All-In Podcast released on Jan. 9.
India is among the last major economies to yet to sign a trade deal with the US. According to Lutnick, Washington had expected to seal a pact with New Delhi before those with Vietnam and Indonesia.
New Delhi, however, called Lutnick's portrayal of trade talks with India as inacurate. "The characterisation of these discussions, the reported remarks, is not accurate. We remain interested in a mutually beneficial trade deal between two complementary economies, and look forward to concluding it," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said.
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