India, US work on PM Narendra Modi's Feb itinerary

India and the US are working on dates for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Washington visit next month that’s likely to be clubbed with his trip to France.

“He’s going to be coming to the White House over next month, probably February. We have a very good relationship with India,” US President Donald Trump told reporters following his phone call with Modi on Monday.

The groundwork for the PM’s trip had been laid when external affairs minister S Jaishankar and foreign secretary Vikram Misri visited the US in December and met the Trump team, said people with knowledge of the matter.


Modi will be in Paris on February 10-11 for the AI Summit convened by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Trump said he had a “productive” phone call with the PM. The two leaders discussed expanding and deepening bilateral cooperation, as well as other issues including security in the Indo-Pacific, West Asia and Europe. The US President said they also talked about undocumented immigrants, adding that PM Modi “will do what's right” when it comes to taking back Indians who are in the US illegally.

Bilateral Trade Talks

This was the first phone conversation between the two in Trump’s second term.

On the Monday call, Trump “emphasised the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship,” according to a White House statement.

“We will work together for the welfare of our people and towards global peace, prosperity and security,” the Prime Minister had said after the exchange. He called Trump a “dear friend,” and said they were “committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership.”

The US is India's largest trading partner. Two-way trade surpassed $118 billion in FY24, with India having a surplus of $32 billion.

An Indian statement said the leaders discussed technology, trade, investment, energy and defence and “agreed to remain in touch and meet soon at an early mutually convenient date.”

ET was the first to report earlier this month that Modi might travel to the US in February if he doesn’t meet with Trump in Paris on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Summit.

Shortly after announcing that Modi might visit the US in February, Trump lambasted India, China and Brazil as “tremendous tariff-maker(s),” and said his government would not allow the three to continue down this path. Speaking to House Republicans at a Florida retreat, the US President said the three countries, founding members of the increasingly influential BRICS bloc, were acting in their own best interests.

“We're going to put tariffs on outside countries and people that really mean harm to us,” he said. “Well... they mean us harm, but they basically want to make their country good. China is a tremendous tariff-maker, and India, Brazil, and so many other countries. (But) we're not going to let that happen any longer... because we're going to put America first.”