SAEDNEWS: US President Donald Trump has made four attempts to speak with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the phone in the past weeks but the latter did not take the calls, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported, citing sources.
The paper points out that earlier, Trump shocked India by imposing the country with 25% tariffs and calling it a "dead economy."
"There are signs indicating that Modi felt insulted," Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes, adding that Modi’s unwillingness to hold a phone conversation with Trump demonstrates the extent to which the Indian premier was irritated by what the US president had done, TASS reported.
The newspaper also notes that the way Trump is perceived in India has considerably changed, particularly due to his statements about plans to boost relations with Pakistan.
India and the United States launched talks on a large-scale trade agreement in February, following Modi’s visit to Washington. The two countries seek to increase annual trade to $500 billion by 2030. The document was expected to be signed in the fall. India’s delegation made several trips to Washington to hold talks on the document; a US delegation’s visit to India for the sixth round of talks, set for August 25, was canceled.
On August 6, the US raised tariffs on Indian goods by 25% to 50%, citing New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil and petroleum products. Trump criticized the South Asian nation for having always purchased the bulk of defense equipment from Russia and being the largest buyer of Russian energy, alongside China. The Indian Foreign Ministry condemned criticism from the US and the EU over Russian oil imports as unjustified. The increased tariffs are set to take effect on August 27.
