The government announced on Thursday, September 19, 2024, that no meeting with former US President Donald Trump has been scheduled as of yet. The announcement came the day after Mr. Trump declared at a campaign rally that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be “coming to meet” him the next week. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri briefed the media about Mr. Modi’s upcoming visit to the United States from September 21–23.
He said that Mr. Modi will meet separately with U.S. President Joseph Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Wilmington, where he will arrive on Saturday, September 21, 2024, for the Quad summit. Additionally, he mentioned that several bilateral meetings had been scheduled during his visit to New York on Sunday, September 22, 2024, and Monday, September 23, 2024.
When asked about Mr. Trump’s announcement about the meeting, Mr. Misri responded, “I think we first need to work our way through to fixing a meeting and then look at the issues.” The former US President had claimed that Mr. Modi was a “fantastic, fantastic man” but that India was a “big abuser” of trade policies. The two leaders were thought to be quite close throughout Mr. Trump’s presidency (2017–2020), but sources claimed that because of the PM’s short stay in the country and Mr. Trump’s hectic campaign schedule, setting up a meeting would be challenging. Meeting the Republican nominee would also appear politically partisan unless the PM also had a meeting with the Democratic contender, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.