Donald Trump shelves India visit for Quad summit amid strained ties: Report

US President Donald Trump is no longer expected to attend the Quad Summit in India later this year, The New York Times reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with his schedule. The report also detailed how the Trump-Modi relationship has frayed in recent months.

In a piece titled “The Nobel Prize and a Testy Phone Call: How the Trump-Modi Relationship Unravelled”, The New York Times reported that Trump had earlier promised Prime Minister Narendra Modi he would travel to India for the Quad Summit, but has since dropped those plans. Neither Washington nor New Delhi has officially commented.

India is set to host leaders from the US, Australia, and Japan for the Quad Summit in New Delhi around November. The Trump administration had convened the previous Quad foreign ministers’ meeting in January this year, just a day after Trump began his second term.

The report attributes the souring of ties to growing trade tensions and Trump’s repeated claims of brokering peace between India and Pakistan — claims consistently denied by New Delhi.

According to officials cited by the NYT, Trump’s decision to skip the summit reflects both rising friction with Modi and Washington’s displeasure over India’s independent stance on trade and energy, especially New Delhi’s continued oil imports from Russia.

In recent weeks, the White House has rolled out a series of tariffs on Indian goods, culminating in a 50 percent levy. Critics argue these sanctions target India’s refusal to toe Washington’s line, more than Moscow’s conduct.

A particularly sharp exchange between the leaders reportedly occurred in June 2025, when Trump told Modi during a call that he had ended hostilities between India and Pakistan and that Pakistan was planning to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. He implied India should do the same.

According to the NYT, Modi rejected the claim, reiterating that the ceasefire was bilaterally negotiated without outside mediation.

What seemed like a minor disagreement marked a deeper breakdown in trust. For Modi, Trump’s peace claims undercut India’s long-held view of Pakistan as a bilateral issue. For Trump, Modi’s refusal to endorse his Nobel narrative appeared to be a personal rebuff, the report noted.