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New Delhi: US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke by phone on Tuesday (September 16) night in their first call since June, with both leaders publicly referring only to birthday greetings and the Ukraine war.

Earlier that day, trade negotiators from the two countries met in Delhi and described their discussions as positive.

“Thank you, my friend, President Trump, for your phone call and warm greetings on my 75th birthday,” Modi posted on X. “Like you, I am also fully committed to taking the India-US Comprehensive and Global Partnership to new heights. We support your initiatives towards a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict.”

Trump also referred to the call in a post on Truth Social. “Just had a wonderful phone call with my friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I wished him a very Happy Birthday! He is doing a tremendous job. Narendra: Thank you for your support on ending the War between Russia and Ukraine! President DJT.”

Neither leader mentioned trade in their public accounts of the call.

The last conversation between the two leaders had taken place on June 18, when Modi rejected Trump’s repeated claim that Washington had mediated the end of the clashes between India and Pakistan the previous month.

Foreign secretary Vikram Misri said then that Modi had conveyed to Trump that “at no point during this entire sequence of events was there any discussion, at any level, on an India-US trade deal, or any proposal for a mediation by the US between India and Pakistan”.

Despite this public denial, Trump has continued to claim credit for halting the fighting, calling it one of the “seven wars” he says he........

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