India’s Modi to meet with Trump, Musk on Thursday as trade tensions mount

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is headed to Washington, D.C., for meetings with President Donald Trump and members of his administration, including Elon Musk, to discuss topics such as efforts to avoid a trade war and artificial intelligence policy, CNBC has confirmed.

In his meetings with President Trump on Thursday, Modi will address the country’s growing trade deficit and present a menu of trade concessions including some tied to agriculture and medical devices, according to sources familiar with the upcoming talks who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak on the matter.

Modi and his team will also signal India’s intent to buy more liquified natural gas from the U.S., a deal that will likely involve Cheniere Energy. India already buys one-fifth of its LNG from the U.S. and is one of the world’s biggest importers.

A senior official in Modi’s government told CNBC that India is ready to procure more U.S. defense equipment from Stryker, and to find other ways to partner with Washington on military drills in the Indian Ocean, where China remains a lingering threat. 

While in Washington, Modi will spend time with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee to run the Commerce Department.

Modi will also have a one-on-one meeting with Musk, who is overseeing the “Department of Government Efficiency,” with a focus on slashing federal programs and regulations. Modi’s discussion with the world’s richest person is expected to center on AI policy, Starlink’s expansion into India and Tesla’s ability to open up a plant in the country, the government official said.

A White House spokesperson didn’t respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

On technology, Modi and his team will also reinforce their interest in buying high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) from the U.S. and in avoiding any forthcoming export controls from the Trump administration. In a recent trip to Mumbai, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang expressed interest in partnering with India’s Reliance Industries to further the country’s AI efforts.

It won’t be the first meeting between the Indian leader and Musk.

Just before Modi’s state visit to Washington in 2023, Musk met with Modi in New York to discuss slashing electric vehicle import duties in India and other ways Tesla’s expansion into India could become a reality.

Tesla hasn’t publicly shared a plan to build a factory in India, and has instead continued to focus on China. But India has become a big growth market for U.S. tech.

Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Google and Amazon have pledged billions of dollars of investment in India’s growth and to capitalize on the country’s emerging middle class.

According to analyst estimates, Apple now manufactures 10% to 15% of its iPhones in India, and CEO Tim Cook has suggested that the company is looking to potentially move more production there. Apple also opened a few retail stores in India in 2023.

For Modi, the trip represents an opportunity for a much-needed boost to his company’s private sector. The MSCI India exchange-traded fund has fallen 5% this year and more than 15% since late September. Meanwhile, Chinese stocks have been rallying as emerging market investors bet on the country’s AI advancements, particularly following recent reports about the power and efficiency of DeepSeek’s model. The iShares MSCI China ETF is up 11% in 2025.

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