As India and the United States work to thaw their relations, US President Donald Trump said he would like to visit the country soon.
Speaking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 Summit 2026 in France, the US leader stated he would be “going to India sometime in the future”, but did not specify a date or year, HT reported earlier.
If the White House does announce a visit to India, it would be Trump’s first since the start of his second term in 2025. His last visit to India was in 2020, where he was welcomed with “Namaste Trump” banners across the nation.
Despite tensions in ties between New Delhi and Washington, Trump downplayed them and said that, as long as he was president, India “would have a great friend in the White House.”
Trump’s QUAD snub
In August 2025, President Trump was set to visit India to attend the QUAD Summit in New Delhi. However, the 50 per cent tariff rate that Trump announced on India sparked tensions between the two nations.
Furthermore, India and Pakistan were engaged in a military conflict in May, which, as per Trump, did not escalate into a full-blown war because of him.
While Pakistan has openly praised Trump for his role in mediating a ceasefire with India, New Delhi has maintained that there was no third-party involvement.
India’s statement and PM Modi’s stance on Washington’s role in the ceasefire reportedly irked Trump, following which his QUAD summit visit was cancelled.
In a 2025 New York Times report titled ‘The Nobel Prize and a Testy Phone Call: How the Trump-Modi Relationship Unraveled’, Trump cancelled plans to visit India due to a series of factors.
But the most striking one was regarding Operation Sindoor and the ceasefire with Pakistan, all of which were a part of the US president’s push for a Nobel Peace Prize.
And so, instead of Trump, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was sent to Delhi for the summit with Japan and Australia.
What caused the strain in Indo-US ties?
The list starts with the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, where Trump claimed he was responsible for the halt.
With no comment or acknowledgement from the Centre on this statement, the ties took a further hit after the US president announced his Liberation Day exercise in April 2025, slapping a 25 per cent levy on India, calling it the “maharaja of tariffs.”
Later, an additional 25 per cent of tariffs were put on India due to its purchase of Russian oil and accusing New Delhi of “fueling Putin’s war in Ukraine.”
The total duty on India went up to 50 per cent, making the country among those that were given the highest duties, along with Brazil and China.
India’s bloc with Brazil and China – BRICS – also played a factor in the strain in ties.
Moving to 2026, in February, India and the US announced they have reached an interim framework for bilateral trade, which a per the fact sheets, would bring down the tariff rate on India from 50 per cent to 18 per cent.
Then, the Iran war began, and several ships and vessels with Indian crew and seafarers were targeted in the Strait of Hormuz.
Last week, three Indians were killed after Palau-flagged MT Settebello came under attack by a US aircraft off the coast of Oman.
Following the tragic deaths, the ministry of external affairs summoned the US Chargé d’Affaires Jason Meeks twice and lodged a strong protest.
While the matter was also raised during a phone call with external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar and Marco Rubio, PM Modi raised the matter regarding safety of Indian seafarers with Trump.
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