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Can Modi-Trump meet on at G7 summit help reset strained India-US relations?
NYT, Jun 16 2026
Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India is expected to meet President Trump at the Group of 7 summit on Wednesday, just a week after US attacks on commercial ships left three Indian sailors dead, further straining ties between the countries.
Mr. Modi may be seeking to stabilize ties, but his task is tough: Any grievances he lodges will be from a country weakened by the Iran war to one that started the conflict and has appeared indifferent to its fallout on India. Already struggling to replace oil supplies after Mr. Trump slapped a punitive tariff on India in August for buying Russian oil, India suffered even more restrictions to its supply of crude from the Gulf region, bringing the oil-importing country to the edge of a fuel crisis. A trade deal has remained elusive.
Hopes of recalibrating ties were struck a blow with the deaths of the sailors in the Gulf of Oman.
The anticipated meeting on Wednesday, reported widely in the Indian media, will be the first face-to-face interaction between the leaders since February 2025, when Mr. Modi traveled to Washington, to congratulate Mr. Trump at the start of his second term. Then, there was a mutual display of bonhomie.
In the 16 months since, India has found its proximate ties to the United States upended by an unpredictable and sometimes bellicose Mr. Trump, and his administration’s determination to open India’s markets and enforce immigration policies that disproportionately affect Indian students and workers in the United States. The fusillade of actions detrimental to India’s interests have hurt its economy, wounded its pride and cast doubt on the value of the personal chemistry between the leaders.
“There is reasonable worry that the convergence between Delhi and Washington of the past 25 years has been through a period of drift and may potentially move toward divergence,” said Atul Keshap, president of the US-India Business Council and a former chargé d’affaires at the US Embassy in India. Both governments should focus on working to strengthen common interests, such as the digital economy and nuclear energy, rather than delay a final trade deal because of endless negotiations, he added.
India has been stubborn in negotiating a new trade deal with the United States after Mr. Trump slapped a bevy of tariffs on countries last year, frustrating US officials with long drawn-out discussions. But recent agreements such as a critical minerals deal signed during Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent visit to India, show some efforts to rebuild ties.
Mr. Trump’s insistence that he mediated a cease-fire between India and Pakistan after the two enemies fought a four-day conflict in May 2025, and Mr. Modi’s repeated refusal to acknowledge it — or nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize — has also created friction.
Analysts also said it might behoove India to swallow its pride and be more flexible, mainly because it doesn’t yet have the kind of leverage that China or the United States have to reshape the global economy.
“The relationship with the United States is the most important relationship India has,” said Aparna Pande, a South Asia expert and senior fellow at Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
Last week, US forces struck three commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman with missiles, killing three Indian seafarers while dozens more were rescued. The United States said the tankers had violated its naval blockade of Iran.
The attacks set off a firestorm in India, where people criticized US forces for endangering the lives of the other Indian seafarers aboard the tankers. The Indian government said it lodged “a strong protest” with a top diplomat at the US Embassy in Delhi, but opposition parties have accused it of not doing enough.
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Gautam
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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/16/worl ... ng-g7.html