Trump Praises PM Modi, Calling Him a 'Tough Cookie' and 'Great Leader'

TOI Correspondent from Washington: Fresh from their meeting at the G7 Summit in France, US President Donald Trump has lavished praise on PM Narendra Modi. "The real Modi is a very tough cookie… He’s been there for more than 12 years… very solid… there's a great calmness, and yet he's not a calm person, he's a very tough guy," Trump said in an interview with Axios. Trump was responding to a question on the two world leaders he likes the most, the other being Chinese President Xi Jinping. Later, he also listed Pakistan's Army chief Asim Munir and PM Shehbaz Sharif as leaders whom he liked. "I think Modi is very good. Yeah. They've had some very good numbers announced. He stays out of wars, which is smart. He's 1.5 billion people. He's actually the biggest. India's actually the biggest. And Modi's a great leader," Trump said when asked about leaders he likes the most in terms of power and leverage, and the ability to execute on that. Calling both Xi and PM Modi “classics,” the MAGA boss, ever in thrall of entertainment and ratings, mused that, "If you were going to make a movie about either one of them, you wouldn't be able to find the man in Hollywood," while raving about their looks and personality. At the G-7 meeting in France, Trump had described PM Modi as “the most beautiful-looking man” who looks “so nice, like an angel," but who in fact was a “killer” when it came to negotiations. "Modi's a great leader," the man who has suddenly embraced a series of foreign wars declared in the Axios interview. "He stays out of wars, which is smart." Trump also said the US does a lot of business with India, adding,"...but now we do fair business. They used to really rip us off. I don't blame them for that. You know, we had stupid politicians that allowed that to happen. But now we do a lot of business. They're not that happy about it because they used to do a lot better. So Modi's great." However, economic pundits and trade experts have frequently pointed out that in Trump's diplomatic playbook, high-gloss adulation usually signals an immediate, transactional ambush. While praising Xi and PM Modi, the MAGA supremo has simultaneously launched trade wars, imposed tariffs and restricted technology transfers. Since his return to office for a second term, New Delhi has faced punitive tariffs, pressure in trade negotiations, a downgrading of Quad and Indo-Pacific formulations, and explicit signals from Washington that India's economic rise may not necessarily align with American interests.