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‘Mr Prime Minister, you are…’: What Trump's handwritten note to Modi on photo means | Decoding equation amid tariffs
Sergio Gor, the US ambassador-designate India, met Modi and mentioned how the US President considers the PM “a great personal friend”
When US ambassador-designate Sergio Gor met PM Narendra Modi on Saturday, October 11, he carried with him a framed photo of PM Modi and President Donald Trump together, with the latter's message and signatures on it.
“Mr Prime Minister, you are great,” read Trump's characteristically straightforward message, apparently handwritten with a mega marker pen that Trump often uses.
Sergio Gor, part of Trump's inner circle, also mentioned later how the US President considers Modi “a great personal friend” — continuing with the most recent bout of bonhomie between the leaders of the world's biggest economy and the largest democracy, respectively.
The two men have kept up what's described as a personal equation even as the two countries are at a two-decade ebb in their relations following imposition of massive trade tariffs by Trump.
Phone calls on Gaza and birthday
Modi recently spoke to Trump to personally praise his peace plan for Gaza that has all but paused Israel's military action in occupied Palestinian territories. He posted messages of appreciation across social media platforms in multiple languages too.
But Trump has been apparently acerbic and seemingly cozy, changing by the week almost.
One of the factors is said to be India's understated-yet-firm refusal to play along with his claim that he “stopped a nuclear war” with Pakistan — something on which he pitched his since-dashed Nobel Peace Prize hopes.
Mid-September, he called and spoke to Modi when he turned 75, after which the PM said “thank you, my friend” on X, adding: “Like you, I am also fully committed to taking the India-US Comprehensive and Global Partnership to new heights.” Trump posted about it too.
Trump's big charge from UN stage
The same month, at the biggest global stage of diplomacy, at the United Nations General Assembly, Trump called India and China the “primary funders” of Russia's war in Ukraine. This was in keeping with the aggressive line the US has taken on the tariffs, saying half of the 50% levy is for India's purchase of oil from Russia.
He also repeated the “stopped the war” claim about India's Operation Sindoor against Pakistan after a terror attack — thus in effect challenging the sovereignty of India's foreign policy.
Just days before that, Modi had reacted positively to Trump's comments saying Modi is “great” and “a friend”. The PM wrote on X: “Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump’s sentiments and positive assessment of our ties."
Talks back on but ‘sanctions’ stay, plus H-1B shocker
The trade deal talks — which were halted amid angry comments by Trump's commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and adviser Peter Navarro — resumed after the social media bonhomie. Trump's birthday call came after it.
Then he went on to say to reporters the same week that he would want Europe also to put sanctions on Russia — essentially meaning tariffs on its buyers. “As you know, I'm very close to India. I'm very close to the Prime Minister of India, I spoke to him the other day to wish him a Happy Birthday. We have a very good relationship and he put out a beautiful statement too. But I sanctioned them,” Trump said.
Beyond tariffs and the ceasefire claim, came another shocker, when Trump imposed a fee of $100,000 for H-1B visas, used mostly by Indian techies to work in the US. The fee effectively killed the programme.
Modi and his cabinet responded by talking a lot about “time for engineers to return home to contribute” and “time to buy swadeshi (or made-in-India) goods".
Trump's anger at Modi-Putin-Xi meet
September was quite the month then, right from the start.
In only the first week, Trump had burst out after Modi's meetings with Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping in Tianjin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
He said, “We’ve lost India and Russia to China."
This was a reaction to the camaraderie between Modi, Putin and Xi, wherein Putin had called Modi a “dear friend” and Xi had slammed the US as a “bully". Modi had traveled to China in a major diplomatic reset after tariffs on India first went to a flat 25% in early August, and then doubled to 50% by the end of that month, while Trump's administration blasted Delhi for buying Russian oil and weapons.
In between, envoy-designate Sergio Gor spoke with hope that India and the US would soon have a deal. He has stressed on the US need to keep India close with an eye on China. But he hasn't yet formally taken up his India assignment. That's some weeks away. He's here only for some courtesy calls.
Given the many turns in the last eight to ten weeks alone, it remains to be seen how the Modi-Trump equation plays out further on the ties.
What next? ‘Red lines’ ahead
Trade deal talks have indeed resumed but India's foreign minister S Jaishankar clearly stated last week that the country has “red lines” around its farm and dairy sectors.
US commerce secretary Lutnick has stuck to “stop buying Russian oil” while adding a condition for a deal: that India must be liberal in opening up its markets if it wants tariffs reduced.
There is no clarity on when Trump and Modi could meet next.
Trump has, meanwhile, announced to hike the tariffs to over 100% on China just this week, and recently had a friendly chat with President Lula De Silva of Brazil, which also faces 50% tariffs like India.
In management terms, Trump — ‘The Art of the Deal’ author, reality TV star and realtor-cum-politician — remains ever-ready to pivot. In more usual terms, he's “mercurial” or simply unpredictable.
Trump's many words
Not known for his vocabulary, Trump has declared repeatedly that “tariff” is his favourite word in the dictionary, but continues to use “great”, “personal” and “friend” for PM Modi too.
The Opposition in India, meanwhile, repeatedly posts photos of when Trump and Modi held mutual-appreciation campaign events for each other — ‘Howdy Modi’ and ‘Namaste Trump’ — during the former's first term as US president.
In the second term, a lot has moved since that February meeting when Modi went to the US soon after Trump took oath. The golden-framed photo that Sergio Gor gave to Modi is from that meeting.
