Donald Trump, PM Modi
US President Donald Trump tried reaching out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi “several times” in recent weeks, the New York Times reported, backing an earlier claim by a German newspaper, while highlighting the circumstances behind the apparent snub to the US President by PM Modi.The last officially acknowledged phone call between PM Modi and Trump took place on June 17, when Trump left the G7 Summit in Canada abruptly and flew back to Washington. A bilateral meeting between the two leaders, planned on the sidelines of the summit, had to be cancelled. During that call, Trump invited PM Modi to stop over in Washington, but the request was declined as Modi had a scheduled visit to Croatia.As per government officials, quoted in the NYT report, there was concern that Trump might attempt to push PM Modi into a photo-op with Pakistan’s Army chief Asim Munir, who had been invited to lunch at the White House at the same time. “It was another clear sign that Trump cared little for the complexity of the issue (between India and Pakistan) or the sensitivities and history around it,” the report quoted a government official. Since then, ties between India and the US have come under strain. Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods and suspended trade negotiations after the government resisted opening India’s agriculture and dairy markets. The NYT report said there was later an effort to arrange another call between the two leaders to finalise a partial trade deal. But government officials were cautious. A senior official told the NYT that the Modi government was concerned Trump might post his own version of the conversation on Truth Social, regardless of what was discussed or agreed.However, the White House spokesperson denied that Trump had reached out.US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he brokered peace between India and Pakistan when the countries were probably going “nuclear, a claim New Delhi has repeatedly denied.However, during the June 17 phone call, Trump brought it up again and told Prime Minister Modi that he was proud of having “ended” the recent military escalation between India and Pakistan. He added that Pakistan planned to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, something he had been openly seeking. The remark was seen by officials as a signal that Trump expected similar support from India, the NYT report said.PM Modi pushed back, making it clear that the ceasefire was arranged directly between New Delhi and Islamabad, without any role for the US. Officials, as quoted by New York Times, said the exchange, and PM Modi’s refusal to endorse Trump’s Nobel bid, became a turning point in the relationship between the two leaders.India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK in response to the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, which killed 26 people. This led to four days of clashes between the two sides, which ended on May 10 after an understanding to stop further military actions.
