Ashish Pandey 
Washington:
India needs to buy more arms and ammunition from the US, stressed President Donald Trump during his phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last night. The Republican leader who took office just a week ago also spoke about moving towards a “fair bilateral trade”.
“The President emphasized the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship,” the White House said.
Read: PM Modi Likely To Visit White House In February: Donald Trump
Sharing more details about the “productive” call, it said that the two leaders discussed deepening cooperation and regional issues, which included the Indo-Pacific, Middle East, and Europe. “Both leaders emphasized their commitment to advance the US-India strategic partnership and the Indo-Pacific Quad partnership, with India hosting Quad Leaders for the first time later this year,” the statement added.
Europe and the Middle East have been the centres of two latest conflicts involving Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas, while Indo-Pacific remains crucial to India-US ties amid growing Chinese interference.
The two leaders also spoke about PM Modi’s plans to visit the US, the White House said. The President later told reporters aboard Air Force One that PM Modi is likely to visit the White House next month.
“I had a long talk with him this morning (Monday). He is going to be coming to the White House, over next month, probably February. We have a very good relationship with India,” said Mr Trump.
Read: ‘India Will Do The Right Thing’: Trump On Migrants Row After Call With PM Modi
Stating he also discussed the issue of migrants with PM Modi, the President said India will do “what is right” when it comes to taking back immigrants who came to the US illegally.
Immigration remains a key focus of the Trump administration with a crackdown at its borders on his very first day as President. Hundreds have been deported since with Trump following an ‘American First’ policy, which threatens the ‘American dream’ of millions who take the treacherous ‘donkey route’ to the US every year from several countries in South America and Asia.
The call between Trump and PM Modi follows reports suggesting the Indian side has been working on an early meeting between the two leaders.
The two leaders enjoyed warm relations in the previous term of the US leader. In 2019, a huge crowd welcomed PM Modi and Trump at an event called ‘Howdy Modi’ in Texas. A year later, Trump came to India and was hosted at the grand ‘Namaste Trump’ event in Ahmedabad.
