Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi

New Delhi, Sep 6: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday responded to US President Donald Trump’s “always be friends” remark, saying he “fully reciprocates” the sentiment and underlined the strength of India-US relations.

“Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump’s sentiments and positive assessment of our ties. India and the US have a very positive and forward-looking Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership,” Modi posted on X.

Trump, while calling India-US ties “very special,” expressed disappointment over India’s Russian oil imports. “I’ll always be friends with PM Modi. He’s a great Prime Minister… but I just don’t like what he is doing at this particular moment,” he said, adding that trade talks were “going well.”

Relations between the two nations have been under strain after Washington imposed steep secondary tariffs—over 50 per cent—on Indian exports, with New Delhi condemning the move as “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable.”

Weeks earlier, at the SCO Summit in Tianjin, Modi was seen in warm exchanges with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, signalling regional unity amid heightened tariffs from the US.

Trump later said the US had “lost India to China” but softened his stance, clarifying he did not believe so. “I’ve been very disappointed that India would be buying so much oil from Russia. I let them know that. We put a very big tariff on India—50 per cent. But I get along very well with PM Modi,” he told reporters, recalling Modi’s visit to Washington earlier this year.