UNITED States President Donald Trump has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will do “what is right” on illegal immigrants, underlining that discussions are going on with India. President Trump made these remarks on Monday while talking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way back to Joint Base Andrews from Florida. He also mentioned that Prime Minister Modi is likely to visit the White House in February. Separately, in a readout of a phone call between both leaders, the White House said that Trump had a “productive” phone call with Modi and sought a move towards a “fair” bilateral trading relationship and deeper India-US cooperation.

 

While talking to House Republicans at a Florida retreat on Monday, President Trump said that the US would impose tariffs on the countries that “harm” America as he named China, India and Brazil as high-tariff countries. “We’re going to put tariffs on outside countries and outside people that really mean harm to us... Look at what others do. China is a tremendous tariff maker, and India and Brazil and so many other countries. So we’re not going to let that happen any longer because we’re going to put America first,” he said. Meanwhile, during their phone call, the two leaders also discussed plans for Modi to visit the US, the White House said in the readout. While talking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump was asked “Did he (Modi) agree to take illegal immigrants.” “He (Modi) will do what’s right. We are discussing,” said the president. “I had a long talk with him this morning (Monday).

 

He is going to be coming to the White House, over next month, probably February. We have a very good relationship with India,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. The President was responding to a question on the phone call he had with Modi on Monday. “Everything came up (in a phone call with Modi),” Trump told reporters when asked about the details of his call with the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister’s trip to the US, the first under Trump 2.0 was finalised during the call. Trump’s last foreign trip as President was to India during his first term. Trump and Modi enjoy a good friendly relationship. The two addressed thousands of people at two different rallies in Houston in September 2019 and in Ahmedabad in February 2020. Modi was among the top three world leaders to speak with Trump after his stunning electoral victory in November 2024.