Report Suggests PM Modi Ignored US President Donald Trump’s Phone Calls Over Distrust, But MEA Officials Call Story Misleading

New Delhi: President Trump is reportedly wondering why Prime Minister Modi won’t pick up his calls. According to a report in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Prime Minister Modi has become highly irritated with the president’s recent actions and has refused to engage.

“There are signs that Modi is offended. According to information from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) Trump has made four attempts in recent weeks to get the Indian Prime Minister on the phone. But he refuses to speak,” claims the article originally written in German.

Both the US embassy in India and the MEA have not responded to requests for comment so far.

The article adds that the reason for the prime minister not to pick up the phone is not just related to anger but caution. It claims Trump made “several attempts to persuade Modi to relent,” but all in vain. The reason is that the prime minister doesn’t trust Trump.

“Trump had previously renegotiated a trade pact between the US and Vietnam, which had been carefully negotiated by delegations, in a telephone conversation with General Secretary Tô Lâm and, without an agreement, announced on his social media that he had negotiated a trade pact. Modi doesn’t want to fall into the same trap,” said the report.

Back in Delhi, Indian diplomats are quick to dismiss the report’s claims. A senior diplomat points out. “Whoever has written this article has no idea how official calls are conducted. A request is made from one aide from one country to the other, where the purpose of the call and the various talking points are discussed. In each case, the purpose of the call is made clear.”

Diplomats added that once the agreed time and purpose of the call are worked out, an agenda is defined. This agenda involves a series of key talking points such as regional and global issues, climate change, and global trade. Once the talking points are agreed upon, detailed inputs are received in a briefing.

The briefing lists the background of an issue, the talking points, the other leader’s positions on key issues, and who is on the call. The head of state is not alone. There will be a translator, the External Affairs Minister (depending on the importance of the call), advisers from the relevant ministry, and note-takers. These note-takers compile a call readout that is approved and released.

President Trump could not have been rebuffed or rejected by Prime Minister Modi because of the people involved. Of course, there is the hotline, a phone line where leaders talk directly. India and the US set up a hotline on January 26, 2015, when then President Barack Obama came here as the Special Guest for Republic Day.

It is possible that President Trump could call Prime Minister Modi through this hotline. But given the warm relations between India and the US—ties only started fraying post Operation Sindoor—it is unlikely Modi would ignore Trump’s call.

So what’s happening? The likely answer is that the incident probably never happened. In 2020, a report in The Hindu quoted MEA officials who dubbed President Trump’s claim that he spoke with Prime Minister Modi about the situation at the LAC with China as “untrue.”

The other possibility is what some diplomats refer to as President Trump’s “call politics.” The US president uses calls to gain a desired result. Post the 2020 call, he claimed he and PM Modi discussed hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), a drug Trump wanted for the US, as he believed it could cure Covid. India’s readout mentioned no such discussion. Trump doubled down and stated the sole purpose of his call was to discuss HCQ. India started rethinking about relaxing the export ban guidelines on HCQ. Is that what is happening here? Diplomats are unsure. “The one thing consistent about Trump is his ego. He would not want the world to know the prime minister rejected his calls,” says a senior diplomat. He points out that the report’s timing is interesting as it comes on the eve of the US deadline expiring and 50% tariffs falling on India on August 27. Clearly, a bigger game is afoot. But who is playing?