Narendra Modi US visit highlights: Modi, Trump sign deal to make US top oil, gas supplier of India

US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands, at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 13, 2025.

Narendra Modi US visit highlights: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Donald Trump for the first time since his return to the White House on January 20 for his second term as US President. The two leaders praised their strong bond and hoped for stronger ties and trade deals as the meeting took place amid concerns over Donald Trump's reciprocal tariff plans, which can impact India hard.

PM Modi began two-day US visit on Thursday with a meeting with US National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and also held talks with the world’s richest man Elon Musk at the Blair House in Washington, which is hosting him during his two-day US visit. PM Modi also met Republican leader Vivek Ramaswamy.

Right before meeting PM Modi, US President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs, stating that the United States will levy same charges as countries impose on it, singling out India as one of the highest charging countries.

PM Modi's visit to the US comes after a two-day trip to France, during which he held bilateral talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and discussed a wide range of issues, including collaboration on AI and civil nuclear energy.

PM Modi US visit | Key points

- Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Washington DC in the early hours of Thursday (late Wednesday EST), kicking off his two-day US visit. PM Modi's US visit's most anticipated bit was his bilateral meeting with President Donald Trump which comes amid tariff threat.

- PM Modi's Washington visit comes nearly three weeks after the January 20 inauguration of Donald Trump and amid tariff threats issued by the US leader in the recent past.

- Trump on Thursday rolled out his plan to increase US tariffs to match the tax rates that other countries charge on imports. He also singled out India as the country that imposes the highest tariffs. His remarks came just hours before with meeting with PM Modi. "No more or no less… They charge us a tax or tariff, and we charge the exact same tax or tariff… no body knows what that number is… you go to an individual country and see what they are charging us," said Donald Trump while announcing tariffs.

-India has more tariffs than nearly any other country, said Donald Trump while announcing reciprocal tariffs. The tariffs could mean duties levied on Indian imports to the US, which Trump had earlier stated would be equal to the taxes charged by other nations on their products.

-PM Narendra Modi's high-profile engagements after reaching Washington included his meetings with United States National Security Advisor Michael Waltz at Blair House in Washington DC and with the US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. Just hours before Tulsi Gabbard's meeting with PM Modi, she took the oath of office as the 8th Director of National Intelligence in the presence of Donald Trump. PM Modi also met Indian-origin entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at Blair House on Thursday.

-Ahead of his visit, the prime minister had remarked that he was looking forward to meeting his “friend” Donald Trump and recalled working together in Trump's first term to build a global partnership. PM added that the trip was an “opportunity to build upon the successes of our collaboration in his first term and develop an agenda to further elevate and deepen our partnership."