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Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting with the Prime Minister of India, Jun. 17, 2026

June 17, 2026 · The White House · 0:18:31

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Evian, France on June 17, 2026. “We have in particular some very good conversations with Prime Minister Modi, India. And we’re doing trade deals. We’re doing a lot of things. A lot of things are happening between the United States and India,” the President said. “He’s been my friend for a long time now and we’ve always had a great relationship.”

Modi commended the President’s efforts toward peace in West Asia and put India’s stake in the Iran agreement plainly: “Keeping the Strait of Hormuz open is vital for the global economy. India has consistently emphasized the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation… across the world Indian seafarers in hundreds of thousands are working, and they’re performing their duties across global maritime trade routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, and their safety is of utmost importance to us… I’m confident that the issue of seafarers will receive the highest priority during the implementation of this agreement.”

Taking questions, the President called the U.S.–India trade deal “very close. We’ve been there for a little while, and he’s a very tough negotiator… He’s as tough as they come,” said he had held “very good talks with President Zelenskyy and with President Putin” on ending the Ukraine war, and restated his standing investment figure as he states it: “We have over 19.2 trillion dollars coming in.”

Why it matters

India is the largest of the G7’s guest economies and the country with the most mariners in the strait the agreement reopens; Modi’s seafarer point is the human edge of the Hormuz question. The trade negotiation he and the President both described as close is the bilateral half of the meeting, in USTR Jamieson Greer’s and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s portfolios.

Scoreboard watch

The trade deal’s closeness is a dated claim this chronicle tracks: “very close,” as the President stated it on June 17, 2026, against the agreement’s eventual terms and date.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Participates in a Bilateral Meeting with the Prime Minister of the Republic of India,” Evian, France, June 17, 2026 (official upload, embedded above). All figures and characterizations as stated by the President and Prime Minister Modi at the meeting.