Indian leader’s remarks follow Trump reaffirming their personal friendship and downplaying his earlier remarks about ‘losing India’ to China.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says ties with the United States remain “very positive”, after US President Donald Trump reaffirmed their personal friendship and downplayed earlier remarks about “losing India” to China.

“Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump’s sentiments and positive assessment of our ties,” Modi said in a statement posted on X on Saturday, adding that India and the US “have a very positive and forward-looking comprehensive and global strategic partnership”.

Strains have emerged between the two longtime allies after the Trump administration imposed tariffs of up to 50 percent on Indian imports, accusing New Delhi of fuelling Moscow’s deadly attacks on Ukraine by purchasing Russian oil.

Speculation of a deepening rift further intensified when Trump remarked on Friday that India, alongside Russia, seems to have been “lost” to China. This came after Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a security summit in China.

Earlier this week, Xi hosted more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries – including Modi and Putin – for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Chinese port city of Tianjin. It was Modi’s first visit to China in seven years, signalling a thaw between the two Asian powers.

“Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” Trump wrote in a social media post, with a photo of Modi alongside Xi and Putin.

When asked by reporters later on Friday about his remarks, Trump downplayed his earlier statement, saying he did not think the US had lost India to China.

“I don’t think we have,” he said. “I’ve been very disappointed that India would be buying so much oil, as you know, from Russia. And I let them know that.”

Trump insisted that he “will always be friends with Modi”, adding that “India and the United States have a special relationship“. “There is nothing to worry about,” he said.

Since his first term in office, Trump and Modi, both right-wing populists, have shared a strong bond.

But recently, Trump also appeared irritated at New Delhi as he sought credit for what he said was Nobel Prize-worthy diplomacy for brokering peace between Pakistan and India following the worst conflict in decades between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May.

India, which adamantly rejects any third-party mediation on Kashmir, has since given the cold shoulder to Trump on the matter.

Trump has also been frustrated at his inability to convince Russia and Ukraine to reach an end to their war, more than three years after Russian forces invaded Ukraine.