US President Donald Trump has praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an interview, calling him a “great leader” and referring to the growing trade relationship between the US and India.
Trump made the remarks during an interview with The Axios Show when asked to name the world leaders he admires most. He named Chinese President Xi Jinping and Modi as the two leaders he holds in the highest regard.
“I think Modi is very good. They’ve had some very good numbers announced. He stays out of wars, which is smart. He’s 1.5 billion people. He’s actually the biggest. India’s actually the biggest,” Trump said.
Trump then spoke about trade between the two countries.
“Modi’s a great leader, and we do a lot of business with them, but now we do fair business. They used to really rip us off. I don’t blame them for that. We had stupid politicians that allowed that to happen. But now we do a lot of business. They’re not that happy about it because they used to do a lot better. But Modi’s great,” he said.
Trump used similar language for Xi, calling both leaders “classics”. He added that if a film were made about either man, no Hollywood actor could play the part, and also praised Xi’s appearance.
Trump also claimed that India used to have leaders who remained in office for only six months or a year before Modi came to power and that Modi has been in office for more than 12 years. The first part of the claim is factually incorrect.
Since 1998, Atal Bihari Vajpayee served as Prime Minister for six years (1998-2004), followed by Manmohan Singh, who served for 10 years (2004-2014), before Modi took office in 2014.
The only Prime Ministers with relatively short tenures during the past three decades were HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral, who each served for about a year.
“Somebody would be there for six months and then a year. And then all of a sudden, Prime Minister Modi ended up; he’s been there for more than 12 years, very solid. And he does it through, like, there’s a great calmness, and yet he’s not a calm person. He’s a very tough guy,” Trump said.
Trump and Modi met on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in France this week in an effort to repair a relationship that has come under strain over the past year.
The India-US trade relationship has been a point of friction, while Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for ending the military standoff between India and Pakistan in May last year. The Modi government has consistently rejected the claim.
India has publicly maintained that it does not and will never accept third-party mediation in its disputes with Pakistan.
