 "US President Donald Trump meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House in Washington, DC, US, February 13, 2025. Reuters")
US President Donald Trump welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (local time) with a warm hug before settling down for the crucial talks.
“I am delighted to see you back at the White House,” the PM told President Trump, while the latter called him a “great friend of mine.”
During their joint presser in the Oval Office of the White House, Trump also gifted his book Our Journey Together to PM Modi.
Trump signed the book, writing, “Mr Prime Minister, you are great.”
Here’s all we know about the book.
The ‘journey together’
Our Journey Together, which features a cover image of Donald Trump waving from Air Force One, was published in December 2021—the year when Trump left office.
“Authored” by Trump, the book is a 320-page collection of photographs from key moments of his first presidency.
The Republican president reportedly handpicked the pictures and customised the captions.
The book features events like ‘Howdy Modi’, and ‘Namaste Trump’, when the two leaders rallied for each other, expressing support.
With over 50,000 Indian-Americans in attendance, the “Howdy Modi” rally was held at a football stadium in Houston in 2019 and featured speeches by both Modi and Trump.
Five months later, in February 2020, the two leaders emphasised the value of India-US ties during the “Namaste Trump” rally held at Ahmedabad Cricket Stadium.
The book also includes a picture of Trump and First Lady Melania Trump’s visit to the iconic Taj Mahal in the same year. They were accompanied by their daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Other key moments from the book are the project to build a wall along the border with Mexico; images of Trump confirming almost 300 federal judges and three Supreme Court justices; his military policies; Trump creating a fourth branch of the US military, Space Force; the US President’s meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jon-Un, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and other leaders; and both of his impeachments.
The book is priced at a substantial Rs 6,000 on Amazon and Rs 6,873 on Flipkart in India. It costs $100 on the Trump Store as well.
Bilateral talks
During their bilateral meeting, PM Modi and Trump talked about trade, tariffs, and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine .
“President Trump often talks about MAGA. In India, we are working towards a Viksit Bharat, which in American context translates into MIGA . And together, the India-USA have a MEGA partnership for prosperity!” the PM said in a post on X.
Trump also said the US would soon increase military sales to India by “many millions of dollars,” paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F-35 stealth fighter planes —something the country has long sought.
The US leader also announced a deal with Modi to import more US oil and gas to shrink the trade deficit between the two countries.
“They’re going to be purchasing a lot of our oil and gas. They need it. And we have it,” Trump said at a joint news briefing.
Adding on to that, Modi said, “In order to ensure India’s energy security, we will focus on trade in oil and gas,” also pledging to invest more in nuclear energy.
Clarifying his stance on trade tariffs, Trump said that the US is “not looking to beating anyone” as he touched upon the topic of imposing tariffs on India to counter China.
Immigration was also high on the agenda. Modi said Thursday that, “Any verified Indian who is in the US illegally, we are fully prepared to take them back to India.”
Further expressing support for Trump’s diplomatic efforts to bring peace in Ukraine, PM Modi said, “I am happy that President Trump spoke to President Putin to ensure peace in Ukraine.”
Reaffirming India’s position, “The world had this thinking that India somehow is a neutral country in this whole process. But this is not true. India has a side, and that side is of peace.”
PM Modi is on a two-day visit to the US and the tour is set to conclude later on Friday.
He is the fourth foreign leader to visit Trump since his inauguration last month, following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ishiba of Japan and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
Prior to meeting with Trump, Modi sat down with National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. He also met with billionaire SpaceX founder and top Trump administration official Elon Musk.
With inputs from agencies