Remarks: Donald Trump Holds a Bilateral Meeting with Narendra Modi of India in France - June 17, 2026

Well, thank you very much. We had some great meetings in France as the group of people that used to be the G-8, now it's G-7. I don't know if that was a good deal or not, but it's a G-7 and we have a G-2 coming up and then we have G-20 coming up. You know what the G-2 is, I think, most of you. But we had in particular some very good conversations with Prime Minister Modi, India.

And we're doing trade deals. We're doing a lot of things -- a lot of things are happening between the United States and India. The United States is doing the best we've ever done; we have over $19.2 trillion coming in, and we're building factories, we're building everything. And the Prime Minister's building a lot in the United States.

He's spending a lot of money in the United States, and we appreciate that job. But I just want to say he's been my friend for a long time now and we've always had a great relationship. And it's great to be with you. Thank you very much. Great to be with you.

[Via interpreter] Thank you. Mr. President, it's a pleasure to meet you here in India. We had an extremely productive meeting in Washington last year, and since then we have given new speed and new energy to our relations, and we are working together on a number of areas. And we're also happy that our teams have also been working in close coordination and engagement, and they've been working towards achievement of the targets that we had set for ourselves last year.

[Via interpreter] Mr. President, I commend you for your leadership on the progress that has been made in the efforts to restore peace in West Asia. Thanks to your efforts, Mr. President, new hope for peace and stability in the region has been rekindled, and I'm confident that this will lead to a long-standing peace in the region.

[Via interpreter] Mr. President, you and I agree that keeping the Strait of Hormuz open is vital for the global economy. India has consistently emphasized the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation and we should work together and place a particular emphasis on that. Mr. President, you are aware across the world, Indian seafarers in hundreds of thousands are working and they're performing their duties across global maritime trade routes, including the Strait of Hormuz and their safety is of utmost importance to us. Mr. President, you've made tremendous efforts towards reaching this understanding and this agreement, and I'm confident that the issue of seafarers will receive the highest priority during the implementation of this agreement.

[Via interpreter] Mr. President, once again, I deeply appreciate and I deeply commend your efforts in ensuring the restoration of peace and making efforts towards restoration of peace and stability in West Asia.

[In English] Thank you.

Thank you very much. Any questions?

Mr. President, we just heard the prime minister praise your efforts to peace efforts. Do you think you can carry the momentum from the Iran deal over to securing an end to the war in Ukraine? And can you tell us about your conversations with President Zelenskyy?

Well, I had very good talks with President Zelenskyy and with President Putin, and we'd like to see that one end. I ended eight wars and, to be honest with you, I thought this would have been one of the easier ones. But they're not liking each other too much and it makes it much more difficult, but we're working on it. I had two good conversations with President Zelenskyy and with President Putin.

[Crosstalk]

American missiles?

They would like to be able to do that. We'll take a look at it. They have asked about it. Steve.

How close are you to a US India trade deal?

Very close. We've been there for a little while. He's a very tough negotiator, one of the toughest, actually. So, you look at this man -- I'll give you a lesson -- he's the most beautiful looking man, he looks so nice, he's like an angel. But actually, he's as tough as -- he's a killer, I don't want to -- he's a killer.

He's as tough as they come, but he looks so good. So, he gets you by surprise. But there's few people like this. People say he's such a nice man. I said, no, he's very tough. He's a tough trader, and he loves the Indian people, but he also loves the USA. We had Howdy, Modi in Houston, remember? The stadium was full.

[Via interpreter; Inaudible]

That was great. Then we'll be going to India sometime in the future.

When do you go to India and how do you see war as well? This is a grouping that was started under your first term, and this is a grouping that all four countries are looking forward to.

Well, we had a great visit last time in India. We opened up that new stadium, and I think there were 300,000 or 400,000 people. It seated like about 150,000, and there were 250,000 outside, and there were 100,000 on the grass. That was -- I don't know if that record has ever been broken, but we had a great -- I had a great time in India.

[Crosstalk]

President Trump, do you expect India to play any role in West Asia. Do you expect India to play any role in West Asia?

Yeah, I do, I do. I think India plays a big role in everything. As long as he's the leader, India is going to play a big role.

[Crosstalk]

You said in India Times that India has a great friend in the United States, in Washington, DC, in the White House, till the time you are president. But some of your decisions recently caused trouble or concern in India. How would you like to assure people of India that you --

[Crosstalk]

Well, as long as I'm president, they have a great friend in the White House. I don't know where they might have been in trouble. I don't think so. I can tell you everyone here, they love India, they have tremendous respect for this man, tremendous.

[Crosstalk]

Are there going to be sanctions, are there going to be real costs on Russia now that the focus has once again been shifted to the Ukraine-Russia war?

We are looking at that. We're seeing how far the price of oil comes down. It's really tumbling, it's, I guess, $74, $75 right now, so it's down. It's soon going to be at the number that it was four months ago, it's pretty amazing. And on top of that, we will have an Iran without a nuclear weapon, which I can tell you the prime minister feels very strongly about that too.

What [Inaudible] G-7 leaders --

[Crosstalk]

They were two a leader, and we had G-7 plus many others came, as you know. To a leader they were thrilled. They could not have been happier. Well, this gentleman came. That's a big get. He came and they could not even believe that it happened. It happened quickly. But it really didn't happen quickly. It happened -- it's been happening for a long time.

It's been happening from my first term when a very evil man named Soleimani was killed. That's when it started and nobody else did this but Trump. You look at our present, 47 years Iran took advantage of the world, the Middle East, but the world. Nobody did anything. The Obama deal was one of the dumbest deals I've ever seen; it was a road to a nuclear weapon.

My deal is a wall to a nuclear -- you're not going to have it, it's a wall to a nuclear weapon.

Do you want the Europeans to send minesweeper boats? Did you tell them that?

We don't need them? But they want to send him; I think it's good.

Has anyone committed to [Inaudible]

Yes, all of them, all of them.

Which nations?

The ones that have that kind of equipment. But every one of them has committed to being involved in some form.

And at this point, do you feel that Vladimir Putin is more responsible for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine?

Well, I don't want to comment on that because I'm trying to get it settled and that doesn't make it easy.

Mr. President, you're on the cusp of making history with the possible peace in the Iran conflict.

I like this guy. You know who that is? I like him. Your reporters are much nicer than mine. Go ahead.

But there is also a tragic loss of lives of Indian sailors recently, sir, in American strikes. Any words of condolences for the grieving families?

Yeah, I do; I heard about that. It's a tough profession, there's no question about it, and we work together on it. This has been happening throughout time, but we work together on it, yeah, certainly. We love all of those people, they're great people. Yeah, please.

How long do you expect Bill Pulte to be acting [Inaudible]

Well, as long as it takes to get everybody else approved. I mean, they were doing a rush act, and we didn't get anything for it. Look, he's a very legitimate guy. He's very smart, he's a brilliant guy. Look at the job he did at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. I mean, he's worth probably $1 trillion right now until we put him there.

But all of a sudden, it was like a rush act by the Democrats. And they said they were going to approve FISA. And I said, but we want FISA approved, but we want the SAVE America Act approved, voter ID, proof of citizenship, no mail-in ballots -- with exceptions like for the military, sick, you're sick, you're traveling, disabled, very open and generous.

We also want no men playing in women's sports and we want no transgender mutilation of our children, none. Those are five things that are 99 percent to -- I mean, that's all we want. It's not a lot. The SAVE America Act, and that can be passed any way they want to pass it but I'm not going to sign FISA unless it's done.

And this was like a rush act; it was a rush act by the Democrats. All of a sudden, they want to get -- and why are they afraid of this guy? I mean, they're so afraid of him they'll do anything not to have Pulte to go in there. He's a very capable guy and they're worried about that.

Mr. President?

Yes, ma'am, please.

You said the deal -- the Iran deal, the text is still being finalized. How confident are you that this Friday signing will happen?

You're talking about this one on the deal? You know, deals are amazing, I've done them all my life. I've gone into deals that were 100 percent and they don't happen. I've gone into deals that there was no chance of getting them done and it happens and they happen easily. So, you never know with deals, do you?

But you're going to find out pretty soon. I think it'll be done. They want to sign; they want to get back to a normal life. You know, we hit them very hard. Don't forget, people talk about when this started, this didn't start three or four months ago. This started years ago when I took out Soleimani. That was a big event.

There are those that say it was the biggest event in the Middle East in 50 years. So, we took him out and they became a much different country. And then we terminated -- I terminated the JCPOA. That's Barack Hussein Obama's horrible deal that gave them a nuclear weapon. And I terminated it and I stopped it and then I stopped it a second time with the B-2 bombers.

And these are all major events in the history of the world, in my opinion, because it prevented them from having a nuclear weapon. And now we're going to do it again, and we're going to see how it works out. So, this is a memorandum of understanding, but it's a very strong one. This isn't just like a two paragraph -- this is a long, pretty detailed memorandum that goes into a regular contract.

I would think they would do it. If they don't, then that's OK, we'll have to start the process again and we don't lose. We have the greatest military in the world, we have the greatest blockade, the naval blockade was 100 percent effective. And again, they have no Navy, they have no Air Force, all bombed out.

I don't want to say the leaders, but first level of leaders, gone; second level of leaders, gone; some of the third level of leaders, gone and they want to make a deal. They are so ready to make a deal.

[Crosstalk]

Defense relationship between India and the United States -- sorry I'm speaking, I won't --

That's OK.

Can you speak to the defense relationship between India and the United States?

I think it's a great relationship. I can tell you this, without having a contract, we don't have a contract, you have the right contract. But if they were attacked, we would be there to help them. How is that? Is that a good statement? OK? Come here. If anybody attacks that man, we're going to be there. Now, if there's a new leader, I'm not sure about it. If there's a new leader, I don't know about that.

But if they're attacked and he's the leader, we're going to be there to help. We have -- and I will I will say this, and everybody says it. I had a great meeting three weeks ago with President Xi of China. We have the strongest military in the world by far, and I built it in my first term, and we're using it in my second term.

And they gave some of it away stupidly in Afghanistan, as you know, and they spent a lot on Ukraine, $350 billion. But we have the most powerful military in the world. You saw that with Venezuela, which was 48 -- think of it, 48 minutes and now our relationship with Venezuela is great. We paid for the cost of the war 40 times, taking millions of barrels out.

Venezuela is benefiting, we're benefiting, Venezuela is benefiting. And then we go to Iran and really in the first week, militarily, we defeated Iran. Nobody thought that could be done. Yeah, please.

Mr. President, do you want Israel to halt its military campaign?

No, I want Israel to be able to protect themselves, but I do want them to use good judgment.

[Crosstalk]

Skilled Indian professionals to be getting more opportunities in the United States under your presidency.

What does that mean?

Highly skilled professionals to get more opportunities here in the US.

Oh, yeah, sure, I mean always. We've always had tremendous relationships in terms of employment with India. Very talented people.

[Crosstalk]

European leaders interact very warmly with you at the summit; do you think that they're coming around to your worldview?

Well, I think they think I was right. I'm sort of always right. When you get right down to it, I think they think I was right. They feel good. Now all of a sudden, they all want to be involved. There's no reason to have them because it's pretty much over. But they all want to be involved. He'd be involved if I wanted but we don't want to waste his time or his people.

No, the European leaders, the meeting we had today was just the leaders. I don't even say the Europeans, the leaders that we had met with, in addition to the seven, we had quite a few come in, they all were willing to get involved. Thank you, thank you.

[Crosstalk]

We had a great meeting on AI. We had all the top people here and it was a great meeting.

And as you know, we're building tremendous numbers of plants but AI, we're building the biggest -- the biggest in the world. We're number one in AI by a lot and it was a very productive meeting.

Negotiations with [Inaudible]

He was here, going fine. I think it's going fine.

[Crosstalk]

Energy Corporation if India is diversifying, buying more energy from across the world, including United States and [Inaudible] from beyond. How do you see India buying energy from you?

India can do anything they want with us. We have the best relationship. We cannot be closer than we are. Would you say that? I don't think we can be any closer. Both him and I and our nations, but it really starts with the two of us. We cannot be closer. Thank you very much.