Trump muscles up military offer to India as Modi bromance blooms

donald Trump has offered to sell fighter jets to India as he and Narendra Modi rekindled a bond that defies the new US administration’s punitive approach to much of the world.

US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrive for a joint press conference in the White House on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump has offered to sell state-of-the-art fighter jets to India as he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to ramp up trade, rekindling a bond that defies the new US administration’s punitive approach to much of the world.

Mr Modi, only the fourth world leader to visit the White House since the US President’s return, described the fellow nationalist as a friend and told him he was adopting a take on his “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Mr Trump said he found a “special bond” with Mr Modi and India and, in an uncharacteristic if ironic show of humility, complimented Mr Modi as being a “much tougher negotiator” than he is.

Successive US administrations have seen India as a key partner with like-minded interests in the face of a rising China, and Mr Trump announced that the new administration was ready to sell one of the top US military prizes: F-35s.

“Starting this year, we’ll be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars,” Mr Trump said.

India would join an elite club of countries that includes NATO allies, Israel and Japan that would be allowed to buy the F-35, which can operate without detection at supersonic speeds.

Continuing a push from predecessor Joe Biden, Mr Trump said the two countries also planned investment in ports, railways and undersea cables to “build one of the greatest trade routes in all of history”, running from India to Israel to Europe and beyond.

Hours before their meeting, Mr Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on all countries, including India.

Speaking next to Mr Modi, Mr Trump called India’s “unfair, very strong tariffs” a “big problem” but said the two countries would hold negotiations to close a trade deficit in India’s favour.

Mr Modi said the world’s largest and fifth-largest countries would work on a “mutually beneficial trade agreement” to be sealed “very soon”, with a focus on oil and gas.

Elon Musk meets Narendra Modi in the White House. Picture: X

Joining the meeting was ­SpaceX and Tesla tycoon Elon Musk, who has launched an aggressive effort as Mr Trump’s right-hand man to overhaul the US bureaucracy. Mr Modi also met one on one with Mr Musk, raising questions over whether the world’s richest person was meeting the Indian leader in an official or business capacity.

The Prime Minister posted pictures of himself shaking hands with a beaming Mr Musk, with several children on the billionaire’s side of the room, and Indian officials on the other.

Mr Modi, a prolific user of Musk-owned social media platform X, said later that he has known Mr Musk since before he became Prime Minister.

Mr Modi offered quick tariff concessions ahead of his visit, with New Delhi slashing duties on high-end motorcycles – a boost to Harley-Davidson, whose struggles in India have irked Mr Trump.

India accepted a US military flight carrying 100 shackled migrants last week as part of Mr Trump’s immigration crackdown. The treatment drew protests from India’s opposition, which accused Mr Modi of sacrificing the dignity of citizens to please Mr Trump.

Mr Modi vowed to keep co-operating, saying undocumented Indians are being lured by human traffickers. “Any verified Indian who is in the US illegally, we are fully prepared to take them back to India,” he said.

Mr Trump in turn announced the US would extradite to India a suspect in the bloody 2008 siege of Mumbai, whom he called “one of the very evil people in the world”.

Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin who was based in Chicago, was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 13 years in prison. His extradition was expected after he lost an appeal to the US Supreme Court.

Mr Modi and Mr Trump share much in common, with both campaigning on promises to promote majority communities over minorities and both doggedly quashing dissent.

AFP