New Delhi: US President Donald Trump made at least four attempts to speak to Narendra Modi over phone in recent weeks, but India’s Prime Minister refused to take any of the calls, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine has reported.
According to the Mainz-based newspaper of record, this reflects the “depth of his (Modi’s) anger, but also his caution.”
Trump has irked New Delhi several time in recent months. Trump has claimed dozens of times that he had facilitated the ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan in May following four days of hostilities between the two armies, after India carried out Operation Sindoor to avenge the deadly Pahalgam terror attack.
India has repeatedly denied any third-party mediation in ceasefire talks, insisting that the DGMOs of two countries reached an agreement after Pakistan made the first call.
Then there was the tariffs issue. India was hit hard as the Trump administration imposed 50% tariffs on Indian exports, the highest for any country other than Brazil. Besides the initial 25% reciprocal tariffs, Trump levied an additional 25% on India as penalty for buying crude oil from Russia.
“FAZ claims that Trump tried to call Modi four times in recent weeks but Modi refused the calls,” posted Thorsten Benner, Co-Founder and Director of the Berlin-based Global Public Policy Institute, on X, sharing a copy of the newspaper report.
“I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together,” Trump had said July 31.
A few days later, Modi asserted that India was progressing towards becoming one of the world’s top three economies.
FAZ noted the signs that “Modi was offended.”
The report made the point that Trump’s approach allowed him to capitalise on other countries’ dependence on the US market, and went onto write that Modi “resisted this” in Trump’s first term, maintaining a relationship of cooperation with Trump without compromising India’s economic interests.
FAZ noted that the surprising element of the situation was Trump’s repeated attempts to persuade Modi to yield.
“The fact that the Indian still refuses to talk demonstrates the depth of his anger, but also his caution,” the report stated.
Explaining the reason behind the caution, FAZ mentioned that Trump previously renegotiated a trade pact between the US and Vietnam, which had been arranged by delegations during a phone call with General Secretary To Lam. But before reaching an agreement, Trump announced on social media that a trade deal had been struck.
“Modi doesn’t want to fall into the same trap,” FAZ said.
Mark Frazier, co-director of the India-China Institute at the New School in New York, opined that America’s strategy isn’t working.
“The American concept of an ‘Indo-Pacific’ alignment, in which India would play a central role in the US’ containment of China, is collapsing,” remarked Frazier, adding that India never intended to commit to siding with the US against China.
The last time Modi and Trump spoke over phone was on June 17.
The two leaders were due to meet on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Canada, but Trump returned to the US ahead of schedule.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Modi spoke to Trump at the American President’s request. It was the first conversation between Modi and Trump since the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.