Hours after President Trump paved the way for upending the United States’ trade relationship with India with broad “reciprocal” tariffs, he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented a united front during a news conference on Thursday at the White House.
Mr. Modi became the latest head of state to seek to placate an increasingly power-flexing Mr. Trump by trying to accommodate his demands — even as Mr. Trump’s promised tariffs hung over the White House meeting. Mr. Modi heaped praise on Mr. Trump, using his motto “Make America Great Again” in English, despite mostly speaking through a translator, and applying the motto to India. “Make India Great Again,” Mr. Modi crowed.
The warm greetings also extended to Elon Musk, the constant Trump companion barreling through the federal government as the head of an initiative to reshape and cut down the federal government: The two had a meeting and photo op. Mr. Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, owns a number of companies, including Starlink, a high-speed internet service, that have sought to make an entry in India.
All the flattery concealed a number of tensions between the two nations, including on two of Mr. Trump’s signature issues, trade and immigration. Mr. Trump hinted at the biggest thorn when he said at the news conference that the United States had a nearly $100 billion trade deficit with India, though he inflated the number — in 2024, the figure was nearly $50 billion.
Just hours earlier, Mr. Trump had directed his advisers to devise new tariff levels for countries around the world that take into account a range of trade barriers and other economic approaches adopted by America’s trading partners. India is among the nations that could face particularly significant consequences from the tariffs.
At the news conference, Mr. Trump said that he had toyed with that idea during his first term, and noted that he could not get India to lower tariffs against the United States then. Now, “we’re just going to say, ‘whatever you charge, we charge,’” Mr. Trump said.
“I think that’s fair for the people of the United States,” Mr. Trump said. “And I think it’s actually fair for India.”
Despite the looming economic punishment, Mr. Modi opened his remarks by saying he was focusing on doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 and “concluding very soon a mutually beneficial trade agreement” with the United States.
Mr. Modi also said that India and the United States would create a framework for defense cooperation for the next decade and added that the two countries would also collaborate to develop semiconductors, quantum technology and artificial intelligence.
Even on an issue that has infuriated some of his constituents in India, Mr. Modi sought to placate Mr. Trump. At one point, Mr. Modi was asked about a U.S. military plane filled with migrants from India that the United States sent to the Indian state of Punjab last week.
Video posted by a top U.S. border official showed migrants in shackles, and prompted outrage in India.
Mr. Modi made no acknowledgment of that. “We are of the opinion that anybody who enters another country illegally, they have absolutely no right to be in that country,” he said.
Earlier in the afternoon, Mr. Trump met with Mr. Modi in the Oval Office, joined by some of the president’s cabinet secretaries. The two leaders sat in chairs, fielding questions from reporters.
Mr. Modi and Mr. Trump have enjoyed a generally friendly relationship. Mr. Modi welcomed Mr. Trump with an enormous rally during a presidential visit to India during Mr. Trump’s first term.
Before Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi met, the Indian prime minister sat down with Mr. Musk.
Mr. Modi shared photos on Mr. Musk’s social media site, X, that underscored Mr. Musk’s power within the Trump administration: The billionaire sat in front of an American flag next to the prime minister and the Indian flag, the kind of pose usually struck by a head of state and that Mr. Trump himself has assumed in recent weeks. Mr. Musk was accompanied by Shivon Zilis, who is a longtime adviser and the mother to some of his children, as well as three of his children, who appeared to exchange gifts with Mr. Modi.
At the news conference, Mr. Modi said he had known Mr. Musk for some time.
It was Mr. Trump’s fourth visit from a foreign leader in rapid succession in the past few weeks, as he approaches foreign policy with an expansionist mind-set and a firm desire to push other countries to reimburse the United States for its military spending. He had already met with the leaders of Israel, Japan and Jordan.
Theodore Schleifer contributed reporting.
