Trump pushes Narendra Modi on ‘fair' trade

US President Donald Trump pressed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ‘fair’ trading ties in a call Monday, the White House said, as Trump 2.0 continues to push his hardline trade agenda with world leaders.

The US President however also discussed plans for a visit to the White House by Modi, the Hindu nationalist leader with whom he had close ties in his first term as president, a readout of the call said.

The White House said the call was "productive" and that the two leaders "discussed expanding and deepening cooperation."

During the call Trump "emphasized the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship."

The two leaders also discussed strengthening the so-called "QUAD" grouping with Australia and Japan, which is widely seen as a counterweight to China. India is due to host the bloc's leaders later this year.

Modi earlier said on X that he was "delighted to speak with my dear friend" Trump.

The Indian and US leaders -- whom critics both accuse of authoritarian tendencies -- enjoyed warm relations when Trump was in the White House from 2017 to 2021.

Modi hosted Trump at a huge rally in his home state of Gujarat, while Trump returned the favor with a similar event in Houston, Texas.

But their personal ties failed to bring a breakthrough on a long-sought US-India trade deal.

Trump has taken an aggressive stance on trade in his first week in office as he seeks to redress what he says is an imbalance with other countries "ripping off" the United States.

He has promised to slap tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, and over the weekend threatened tariffs against Colombia after it refused to take in deported migrants aboard several US military planes.

Colombia eventually backed down.