Prime Minister Narendra Modi declined to back US President Donald Trump’s claim of brokering peace between India and Pakistan and refused to engage on a Nobel Peace Prize bid, according to a New York Times investigation. Weeks later, Washington hit India with tariffs totalling 50 per cent and trade talks froze. The leaders have not spoken since 17 June.
The 17 June call Citing interviews in New Delhi and Washington, the New York Times reports that during a 35 minute phone call on 17 June, Trump told Modi “how proud he was of ending the military escalation” and “mentioned that Pakistan was going to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.” The paper added, “The not-so-subtle implication, according to people familiar with the call, was that Mr Modi should do the same.”
According to the report, Modi replied that US involvement “had nothing to do with the recent cease-fire,” and said the matter was “settled directly between India and Pakistan.” The Times says Trump “largely brushed off” the response, and that Modi’s refusal to engage on the Nobel became a turning point.
India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri offered the public readout the next day. Misri said Modi told Trump that “India has never accepted mediation, does not and will never do so,” and added that issues such as an “India US trade deal or mediation by the US between India and Pakistan” were not discussed “at no time [or] at any level.”
The White House did not acknowledge the call and Trump did not post about it, the Times reported.
“And it is also the tale of an American president with
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