Trump and India's Modi split over U.S. role in Pakistan ceasefire
US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hold a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 13, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | Afp | Getty Images
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his first conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump since the early May conflict between India and Pakistan to express his frustration with Trump's repeated claims that he played a significant role in brokering a ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed countries.
"Prime Minister Modi firmly stated that India does not and will never accept mediation. There is complete political consensus in India on this matter," Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said in a statement.
During a Tuesday phone call between the two leaders, Modi "clearly conveyed" to Trump that the U.S. played no role in the mediation between India and Pakistan and denied any discussion of a trade deal, said Misri.
The 35-minute call was initiated by Trump, he added.
The White House did not provide a separate readout of the call.
The two leaders last spoke in early May, after an April terror attack by Islamist militants in the Indian-controlled region of Kashmir killed 26 civilians.
India responded with a tit-for-tat bombing in Pakistan, resulting in a four-day conflict that threatened to explode into a broader war fueled by decades of tensions between the two countries.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. played a significant role in the eventual de-escalation of tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi.
"I stopped the war between Pakistan and India," Trump said outside the White House on Wednesday, where he called Modi "a fantastic man."
Trump has also recently compared the current conflict between Israel and Iran to last month's India-Pakistan conflict. Trump said Sunday that Israel and Iran should make a deal "just like I got India and Pakistan to make."
The strident tone of India's statement Wednesday was likely due in part to Trump's decision to host Pakistan's chief of Army Staff for lunch at the White House.
Trump told reporters at the White House that the lunch was intended to "thank him for not going into the war" and to discuss a potential trade deal with the country.
The president also touted apparent progress on a trade deal with India.
Trump and Modi had been scheduled to meet in-person at the G7 summit in Canada this week. But Trump left a day early, with the White House saying he cut the trip short due to tensions in the Middle East.
Latest World News copy
- Canada rescinds Digital Services Tax after Trump cuts off U.S. trade talksThe move comes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced over the weekend that he will be "terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada"
- China's manufacturing activity contracts for a third month amid deflation woesChinese manufacturers have been grappling with a deepening price war, exacerbated by higher tariffs that dwarfed its U.S-bound exports.
- China's biggest public AI drop since DeepSeek, Baidu's open source Ernie, is about to hit the marketChinese internet search giant Baidu will open source its Ernie gen AI large language model as soon as this week, with uncertain consequences for the market.
- Asia-Pacific markets mostly rise as investors parse a slew of data releasesInvestors parsed a slew of data points, including South Korea and Japan's industrial output figures and China's purchasing managers' index readings for June.
- The global week ahead: A hectic half first heralds a volatile secondThis is your weekly lookahead at the key global events that could move markets and shape policy.
- Nvidia shares retake AI leadership role. Wall Street is bullish going forwardNvidia crushed three new all-time closing highs last week, and investors believe that its momentum will only accelerate from here.