In recent weeks, US President Donald Trump has tried to call Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi four times, but Modi has refused to take the call.
Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, citing sources, said the Indian Prime Minister did so out of anger and caution.
President Trump’s efforts to reach out to Prime Minister Modi come as the US imposes import tariffs of up to 50% on India, the highest on any country except Brazil, and calls the South Asian nation’s economy a “dead economy”.
The India-US relationship, which has been nurtured for 25 years, has been on a tear as Trump has targeted India for its large trade surplus with the US. Washington has also imposed sanctions on New Delhi for buying Russian crude oil.
According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Modi on August 10 expressed dissatisfaction with Trump’s “dead economy” comment and asserted that India is on track to become one of the world’s top three economies. The newspaper commented that there are signs that the Indian Prime Minister feels offended.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung notes that Trump’s approach often allows him to exploit other countries’ dependence on the US market. However, Modi opposed this during Trump’s first term and maintained cooperative relations with the US without harming the Indian economy. Now, surprisingly, Trump has repeatedly tried to persuade Modi to make concessions.
India and the US launched negotiations on a large-scale trade agreement in February, after Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Washington. The two countries aim to increase annual trade to $500 billion by 2030. The document is expected to be signed in the fall. An Indian delegation has visited Washington several times for negotiations, but a US delegation’s visit to India for the sixth round of talks, scheduled for August 25, has been canceled.
On August 6, the US raised tariffs on Indian goods from 25% to 50%, citing New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil and petroleum products. The Trump administration’s tariff hike on India is scheduled to take effect on August 27.
Mr. Trump criticized the South Asian country, which has always bought the majority of its defense equipment from Russia and is, along with China, the country’s largest energy buyer. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has condemned criticism from the US and the European Union (EU) over its imports of Russian oil as unfounded.
