United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend his greetings on Diwali, adding that their conversation focused on trade. He also reiterated his claim that New Delhi will limit the purchase of Russian oil.

Trump told reporters at the White House that he had a “great conversation” with Modi.

“We talked about trade,” he said. “We talked about a lot of things, but mostly the world of trade. He’s [Modi] very interested in that.”

Energy trade was also part of the conversation, Trump said, adding that Modi had assured him that India would be limiting its oil purchases from Russia amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

“He’s not going to buy much oil from Russia,” the US president said. “He wants to see that war end as much as I do.”

Trump has repeatedly alleged that India’s purchases were helping to fund Russia’s war.

The US president’s remarks on Tuesday came two days after his claim that Modi had told him that New Delhi will stop buying Russian oil. He warned that India will continue to pay “massive tariffs” if it fails to do so.

On October 15, Trump had told reporters that Modi had agreed to halt India’s Russian oil imports “within a short period of time”, which he described as “a big stop”.

Hours later, India’s Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement that neither confirmed nor denied Trump’s claim, but maintained that ensuring stable energy prices and secure supplies were the goals of the country’s energy policy.

However, subsequently, ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a press conference that as per his information, no telephonic conversation had taken place between Modi and Trump that day.

On Tuesday, the US president also noted that he had previously spoken to the prime minister about “having no wars with Pakistan”.

“And I think the fact that trade was involved, I was able to talk about that,” Trump said. “And we have no war with Pakistan and India. And that was a very, very good thing.”

Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after the Indian military on May 7 carried out strikes – codenamed Operation Sindoor – on what it claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

The Pakistan Army had retaliated by repeatedly shelling Indian villages along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Several civilians were killed in the firing.

On May 10, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced that the Pakistani director general of military operations had called his Indian counterpart to propose an end to the hostilities.

The announcement by the Indian foreign secretary had come minutes after Trump claimed on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to the ceasefire. The US president had claimed that the ceasefire talks were mediated by Washington.

Trump has since repeatedly claimed credit for brokering the ceasefire. The US president has also claimed that he pressured both countries into accepting the ceasefire by threatening to stop trade with them.

New Delhi has rejected the claims and maintained that the ceasefire was not the result of mediation.

On Wednesday, Modi thanked Trump for his phone call and Diwali greetings.

“On this festival of lights, may our two great democracies continue to illuminate the world with hope and stand united against terrorism in all its forms,” the prime minister said on social media.

US tariffs on India

The combined tariff rate for India is at 50%. A 25% so-called reciprocal duty was imposed on August 7, followed by an additional 25% punitive levy on August 27.

After the punitive levies were announced, New Delhi had said it was “extremely unfortunate” that the US had chosen to impose additional tariffs on India “for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest”.

Recently, however, trade talks between the two countries have gained fresh momentum.

A team of Indian officials led by Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal visited Washington DC last week to hold trade negotiations with the US, The New Indian Express reported. Last month, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had also led a delegation to New York for trade talks.

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