Donald Trump wants India to increase the procurement of American-made security equipment and move towards a fair bilateral trading relationship, the White House said on Monday hours after the US President had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Later, speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said Modi was likely to visit Washington in February.

“He will do what’s right,” the President answered when asked if Modi had agreed to take back the Indian immigrants who are illegally in the US.

“We are discussing,” Trump said, adding that “everything came up” during the telephone conversation with Modi.

There was no mention of any of this in the Prime Minister’s post on X on the conversation, or in the Indian readout.

The White House readout said Trump had emphasised the importance of India increasing its procurement of American security equipment and moving towards a fair bilateral trading relationship.

“The leaders discussed plans for Prime Minister Modi to visit the White House, underscoring the strength of the friendship and strategic ties between our nations,” it said.

“Both leaders emphasised their commitment to advance the US-India strategic partnership and the Indo-Pacific Quad partnership, with India hosting Quad leaders for the first time later this year.”

While Trump’s return to the White House has added a sense of urgency to the subject of taking back illegal immigrants, India’s stance is that this is an ongoing exercise.

“We are against illegal migration, particularly because it is linked to organised crime, as has been seen in many countries,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said last week amid reports of US pressure on India to take back illegals.

“If someone is residing illegally abroad and we can establish that the individual is an Indian citizen, we are always prepared to take them back.”

Trump’s agenda on tariffs, immigration and the purchase of US security equipment is likely to open new pressure points for India although the Modi government can expect relief on another front: Washington’s references to democratic backsliding in India on the Prime Minister’s watch.

The US is clearly moving away from Wilsonian foreign policy, which used American power to spread liberal values globally and try to foster world peace through collective security.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the Raisina Middle East Dialogue in Abu Dhabi, Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar cited “the sharp departure of the United States from a century of Wilsonian foreign policy” as a key facet of the changing global order.

Jaishankar said: “As we contemplate the world ahead, it is important that we read the incipient trends accurately. A significant one is the belief in key circles in the US that its true potential has been hobbled by regimes and restrictions. Such perceptions have been fuelled by assessments that others have gamed the international system to America’s disadvantage.”

As a result, Jaishankar said, the competitive facet of world affairs was likely to increasingly overshadow the collaborative one.

“Finding common ground and landing points will not be that easy, or indeed, that lasting. In such a scenario, the global architecture will also be more plurilateral,” he said.

“Combinations of nations will come together on an agreed and specific agenda. That the world of multilateralism is now anachronistic and gridlocked will further facilitate these tendencies.”