US President Donald Trump has promised to visit India and declared the two countries are close to finalising a trade deal, following a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France — their first scheduled face-to-face talks since February 2025. The encounter marked a notable shift in tone after a period of mounting friction between Washington and New Delhi over tariffs, immigration restrictions, and the deaths of Indian sailors in US military strikes.
The meeting, held on Wednesday, covered a broad agenda including trade, defence, energy, and the safety of Indian seafarers. Modi opened the talks by directly raising the killing of three Indian crew members in a US strike on a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman on 10 June, telling Trump that the safety of the hundreds of thousands of Indians working on global maritime routes, including the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, was of "utmost importance." The strait, a narrow waterway between Oman and Iran through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil and gas supplies normally pass, has been closed amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, dealing a severe blow to India, which imports around 90% of its oil. Trump's response was measured, saying "it's a rough profession" and that the two countries "work together," while Modi commended the US president for his efforts toward a regional peace deal and expressed confidence that seafarers' safety would be prioritised during its implementation.
On trade, both sides struck an upbeat note. India's foreign ministry said the leaders noted "significant progress" toward an interim bilateral trade agreement and directed officials to work toward a "commercially meaningful agreement at the earliest." US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is set to travel to India next week for a fresh round of negotiations. Trump called Modi "a very tough negotiator — one of the toughest, actually," while also offering effusive personal praise. The two countries had announced the outline of a deal in February but finalisation stalled amid shifting US tariff policies and unresolved details. India was initially hit with tariffs of up to 50% on some goods before a series of legal and diplomatic developments brought the rate down to the current 10% following a US Supreme Court ruling that struck down many of Trump's tariff measures as illegal.
Trump sought to project confidence in the overall relationship, dismissing suggestions it was fraying and telling reporters that as long as he was president, India would have a "great friend" in the White House. He said the US would "be there to help" if India were attacked, though he conspicuously tied this assurance to his personal relationship with Modi. He also indicated a visit to India — potentially as part of a Quad meeting including Japan and Australia — would happen "sometime in the future."
The warm optics notwithstanding, the relationship has faced substantial headwinds. Beyond the tariff disputes, New Delhi has been irritated by Trump's claims of brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan and his offers to mediate on Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan region both countries claim in full. India firmly rejects outside involvement on Kashmir. Restrictions on H-1B visas — long a key route for skilled Indian professionals to work in the US — have also caused domestic political pressure on Modi, who faced criticism at home for not condemning the deaths of Indian sailors more forcefully. The talks in Evian appear intended to reset the relationship's trajectory, even as several of its underlying tensions remain unresolved.