‘Not that happy with me’: Trump says tariffs strained ties with Modi

Tariffs strain Trump–Modi ties

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "not that happy with me" because of the tariffs imposed by Washington on Delhi for its purchases of Russian oil.

Trump, delivering remarks at the House GOP Member Retreat, also claimed that “Prime Minister Modi came to see me, ‘Sir, may I see you please’. Yes." "I have a very good relationship with him. He's not that happy with me because you know they're paying a lot of tariffs now because they're not doing the oil, but they are, they've now reduced it very substantially, as you know, from Russia,” Trump said.

“We're changing it. We're changing it. India ordered 68 Apaches,” he said.

The US President has imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods, including a 25 per cent levy specifically linked to India’s imports of Russian oil, PTI reported. He also used his remarks to defend the broader tariff regime, claiming the United States was benefiting financially from the measures.

Trump’s comments come against the backdrop of repeated warnings to New Delhi over its continued energy trade with Moscow. He has previously said the US could raise tariffs further if India does not “help on the Russian oil issue”, directly tying the threat to the Russia–Ukraine war.

He has accused India of bolstering Russia by buying discounted crude and cited this as the justification for sharply higher duties on Indian exports. Trump has also portrayed tariff pressure as a means of influencing India’s behaviour, saying New Delhi understood his dissatisfaction and wanted to keep trade ties on track.

At the same time, Trump has sought to position himself as a potential mediator in the Russia–Ukraine conflict, holding talks with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, though without any concrete breakthrough.

India, for its part, has previously rejected Trump’s claim that Prime Minister Modi assured him New Delhi would stop buying Russian oil, clarifying that no such conversation took place.