‘Sir, may I see you please’: Trump jibes at Modi as tariff tensions rise

US president says India faces 50% tariffs over Russian oil as Modi sought meeting amid trade tensions

United States President Donald Trump has recounted a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying Modi sought permission to meet him, as he mocked the Indian leader during remarks at a House GOP member retreat.

“Prime Minister Modi came to see me, ‘Sir, may I see you please’. Yes,” Trump said while speaking about defence sales and trade ties with India.

Trump said India has been waiting for five years for US-made Apache attack helicopters and had ordered 68 of them. He made the comments while discussing defence demand and trade leverage.

#BREAKING: US President Donald Trump says Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “is not very happy with me because they are paying a lot of tariffs”.

“India ordered 68 Apaches, and Prime Minister Modi came to see me, sir, may I see you, please? Yes. I have a very good relationship… pic.twitter.com/FRSd6IDxv9

— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) January 6, 2026

The US president said Modi was “not that happy with me” because of tariffs imposed by Washington on New Delhi over its continued purchases of Russian oil.

“I have a very good relationship with him. He’s not that happy with me because you know they're paying a lot of tariffs now because they're not doing the oil, but they are, they've now reduced it very substantially, as you know, from Russia,” Trump said.

Congress India took to X, caricaturising the instance narrated.

Please sir 🙏 pic.twitter.com/3PzvpUd1KP

— Congress (@INCIndia) January 7, 2026

Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on India, including a 25% levy linked specifically to its purchases of Russian oil. On Sunday, he warned that Washington could further raise tariffs if New Delhi failed to curb such imports.

“Modi [...] knew I was not happy, and it was important to make me happy,” Trump said.

Read: Trump warns of higher tariffs on India over Russian oil purchases

“They do trade, and we can raise tariffs on them very quickly,” he added when asked about India’s oil imports from Russia.

The United States doubled import tariffs on Indian goods to 50% last year as punishment for what it described as heavy buying of Russian oil. Despite the higher duties, India’s exports to the US rose sharply in November, according to trade data.