Modi Says ‘Good Progress’ Made in Trade Talks After Trump Call
(Bloomberg) --
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with US President Donald Trump to review progress on trade talks, signaling renewed efforts by both sides to break the impasse.
The issue came up during a telephone call between the two leaders where the Indian prime minister congratulated Trump on the Gaza peace plan, according to a post by Modi on X. This is the second call between the leaders in less than a month, as the two major economies seek to ease tensions over tariffs and New Delhi’s Russian ties.
Calling Trump his “friend,” Modi said the two leaders “reviewed the good progress achieved in trade negotiations,” according to his post.
Relations between India and the US have been strained since Trump imposed 50% tariffs on goods from the South Asian nation, partly to punish New Delhi for Russian crude oil imports. The ties further worsened after a hefty fee increase on H-1B visas, used mostly by India’s tech workers to gain employment in the US.
Both leaders agreed “to stay in close touch over the coming weeks,” Modi added in the post on Thursday.
The talks signal that both sides are still aiming for a trade deal by this fall. The two sides resumed negotiations last month, around the same time Modi and Trump spoke on the Indian leader’s birthday.
A US team led by Assistant Trade Representative Brendan Lynch visited New Delhi last month to help resolve differences. India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal also traveled to Washington in September as part of efforts to reset trade ties.
“The call suggests that dialogue channels are still open,” said Sonal Varma, economist at Nomura Holdings Inc. “But we have seen many ups and downs in the past two months to draw any clear conclusion.”
Although India was among the first nations to begin trade talks with the Trump administration, the two sides failed to reach an agreement after five rounds of discussions. The negotiations stalled partly due to New Delhi’s close ties with Moscow and its reluctance to open its dairy and agriculture markets.
Indian refiners have continued to buy oil from Russia, but New Delhi had made several concessions early on in the negotiations, including offering to reduce tariffs on industrial goods to zero if the US reciprocated, Bloomberg News reported earlier.
(Updates with more details.)
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
