NEW YORK, Aug 31 (APP): US President Donald Trump has decided not to visit India for the Quad Summit later this year as the rift between him and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi deepens, according to a report from The New York Times.
The Quad Summit is scheduled to be held in New Delhi in November, hosted by India.
The grouping serves as a strategic platform focusing on Indo-Pacific regional security and cooperation among the United States, India, Japan, and Australia.
Quoting “people familiar with the president’s schedule,” the Times said in a dispatch titled: ‘The Nobel Prize and a Testy Phone Call: How the Trump-Modi Relationship Unraveled’, that “After telling Mr. Modi that he would travel to India later this year for the Quad summit, Mr. Trump no longer has plans to visit in the fall.”
There has been no official comment from the White House on the report.
According to The New York Times report, a major source of tension between the two nations is Trump’s declaration that he brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan during their conflict in May.
Trump has consistently stated that he brought an end to the war between India and Pakistan, using trade as leverage for both countries.
India denies this assertion, insisting that the ceasefire was established solely between New Delhi and Islamabad.
The report also refers to Trump’s push for a Nobel Peace Prize for himself in recognition of his peace efforts around the world.
Meanwhile, in China, Modi has told China’s President Xi Jinping that he is committed to improving bilateral ties, indicating a growing closeness to Beijing only five days after the United States slapped steep tariffs on Indian goods, according to media reports.
“We are committed to progressing our relations based on mutual respect, trust and sensitivities,” Modi told Xi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit taking place in Tianjin.
Modi is in China for the first time in seven years to attend the two-day SCO summit, which is also being attended by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other leaders from Asia, and the Middle East, in a show of Global South solidarity.