'You have been my friend for a long time,' says Trump as he hosts PM Modi

US President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “long-time” friend as he welcomed the Indian leader to the White House. The Prime Minister is on a two-day visit to the United States, marking his first visit to the country after Trump returned to the Oval Office. His trip is also coming at a time when Trump is putting tariff pressure on several trading partners, including India.

“You have been my friend for a long time,” Trump told PM Modi after the prime minister arrived at the White House to hold bilateral talks with the president on Thursday (local time). “It’s a great honour to have PM Modi of India. He is a great friend of mine for a long time. We have had a wonderful relationship and we kept the relationship during our 4 year period…We have just started up again. We have, I think, some very big things to talk about,” he averred.

PM Modi thanked Trump for the invitation and congratulated him for winning the 2024 US presidential elections. “Very happy to see President Trump, want to congratulate you on behalf of all Indians for your victory,” he said. “My experience with Trump earlier was of trust, and partnership, and want to continue in the same spirit,” the Indian leader furthered.

Trump remains keen on selling oil and gas to India

Right off the bat, the president made it clear that he would like to sell oil and gas to India, stressing the wonderful ties they had during his first stint in office. “Number 1 is, they [India] are going to be purchasing a lot of our oil and gas,” Trump told the reporters.

“We have more oil and gas than any other country in the world by far. They need it, and we have it. We are going to talk about trade. We are going to talk about many things. But, it’s really an honour to see you, you have been my friend for a long time. Congratulations on having done a great job,” he added.

On Thursday, Trump welcomed PM Modi at the West Wing lobby in the White House in Washington, DC. This was the first time the two leaders met face to face after Trump won the 2024 US presidential elections. The Indian delegation who were present with the prime minister included External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and India’s Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra.

It is pertinent to note that the prime minister is among the first few leaders to visit the United States after Trump’s inauguration. Since Trump’s November win, both leaders have spoken twice on the phone. In January, EAM Jaishankar attended the inauguration ceremony of President Donald Trump as PM Modi’s Special Envoy.

During his visit, Jaishankar held talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and participated in the QUAD Foreign Ministers’ meeting in January 2025. Before meeting Trump, the prime minister also held bilateral talks with some of the lawmakers from Trump’s cabinet. The list included US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Indian-origin entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard.

With inputs from agencies.