Desi Talk

www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 18 US˨INDIA November 14, 2025 Trump Implies Talks With India Continue, Praises Modi, Says He Might Visit That Country P resident Trump during a press conference at the White House, indicated he may visit India next year. He also repeated that applying tariffs on countries was a national security measure and that it was a tool he used to stop wars, reiterating his reference to India and Pakistan as an example of his success. Trump was speaking during a press conference he held to announce a deal to lower the price of weight-loss drugs. Asked about the Supreme Court’s ongoing hearing on whether the tariffs his administration had applied on countries were legal, Trump said tariffs were akin to a national security initiative. “I use them for national defense. I ended …. say five or six (wars) were ended because of tariffs.” He repeated the example of the recent India Pakistan conflict. “If you take a look at India and Pakistan, they started to fight. The two nuclear nations, they were shooting each other. Eight planes were shot down. There was (sic) seven. Now it was eight, because the one that was sort of shot down is now abandoned, and eight planes were shot down. ” “And I said, Listen, if you guys are going to fight, I’m going to put tariffs on you. And they both …. were not happy about that, and within 24 hours they settled the war. If I didn’t have tariffs, I wouldn’t have been able to settle that war.” Asked if he was planning to go to India, Trump said, “Prime Minister largely stopped buying oil from Rus- sia when you plan.” The President went on to say, “He’s a friend of mine, and we speak, and he wants me to go there. We’ll figure that out. I’ll go. I had a great trip there with Prime Minister…Modi’s… great man, and I’ll be going.” Asked if he would be going there next year, Trump responded, “”It could be, Yeah.” ADDON FROM THE WASHINGTON POST “I do not have anything on this to share,” Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Af- fairs, said at a briefing in New Delhi on Friday regarding Trump’s visit. “I will let you know when I have.” During his February visit to theWhite House, Modi had invited Trump to India. “On behalf of 1.4 billion Indians, I invite you to come to India,” the Indian leader had said at a joint press conference inWashington during his visit. But relations between the two countries deteriorated rapidly after that. Trump earlier this year slapped 50% tariffs on India’s exports to the US in part to pressure New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil. That added tensions to an already contentious negotiation over what the US has cast as India’s high levies and other barriers on American goods. In recent weeks, Trump has said that Modi has pledged to wind down purchases of crude from Russia and ex- pressed optimism about trade talks. While some officials in New Delhi have indicated that India is close to signing a trade deal withWashington, others - including the Minister of Commerce and Indus- try Piyush Goyal - have sent mixed signals, saying the country won’t be pressured into finalizing any agreement. It is also unclear if the recent warmth between the two leaders will last. Despite sharing a close relationship, the alliance between Trump and Modi has been strained by the US leader’s repeated claim that he deserves credit for brokering a truce in a four-day armed conflict between India and Pakistan. Trump’s last presidential visit to India came over five years ago, during his first term. “The people of India still remember your visit of 2020, and hope that President Trump will come to them once again,” Modi had said at the February press conference. From News Dispatches PHOTO:SCREENGRAB FROMVIDEO OF PRESSER PHOTO:PRAKASH SINGH/BLOOMBERG President Trump responding to a question on India, November 6, 2025, at a White House press conference on drug prices, when asked about tariffs and trade deal with India. India’s prime minister Narendra Modi. India Trade Delegation To Visit Moscow As U.S. Tariffs Hit Exports A large delegation of Indian exporters will start a four-day visit to Moscow on Tuesday, a senior trade body official said, part of New Delhi’s push to diversify export markets amid the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s sharp tariff increases. The visit comes ahead of an expected trip to India next month by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The delegation will comprise more than 20 exporters from the engineering sector – a sector which accounts for nearly a fifth of all Indian merchandise exports – and the visit is part of a broader strategy to tap new markets, industry officials said. Trump has doubled tariffs on Indian imports into the U.S. to 50% as punishment for India’s purchases of Rus- sian oil, driving bilateral relations to their lowest point in decades, though the two countries are now trying to reach a trade deal. Trucks with shipping containers are parked at Jawaha- rlal Nehru Port, in Navi Mumbai, India, August 27, 2025. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas “Russia has been an important business partner for India, and the engineering and tools sector presents significant potential for collaboration,” said S.C. Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisa- tions (FIEO), which is leading the delegation. “Our engineering exports to Russia are growing rapidly and are expected to reach $1.75 billion this year,” he said, adding that the visit aimed to deepen commercial ties and promote Indian manufacturing in the Russian market. Exports of engineering goods to the U.S., India’s larg- est market, declined 9.4% year-on-year to $1.40 billion in September, industry estimates showed, while total exports to the U.S. fell to $5.4 billion from $6.9 billion in August. India’s exports to Russia rose 14.6% year-on-year to $4.9 billion in the fiscal year 2024/25 ending in March, while imports, mainly of crude oil and other energy prod- ucts, climbed 4.3% to $63.8 billion, Commerce Ministry data showed. Indian exporters have benefited from supply gaps in Russia afterWestern firms exited the market following the Ukraine invasion. However, imports have recently slowed as refiners paused Russian oil purchases following the imposition of U.S. sanctions on two major Russian crude oil exporters. At the MITEX Tools Expo in Moscow from November 11-14, Indian firms will showcase engineering goods, highlighting the country’s manufacturing strength, FIEO said, while the Indian Embassy and the Commerce Ministry will facilitate meetings with Russian buyers to promote trade and joint ventures. -Reuters PHOTO:SPUTNIK/ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/POOLVIA REUTERS Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands during a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. By Manoj Kumar