In PM Modi, Trump’s first face-to-face in 16 months, a handshake breaks ice

2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 16, 2026 08:53 PM IST

Prime Minister Narenda Modi shakes hands with US President Donald Trump before the plenary session at the G7 summit. (AP Photo)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump met briefly Tuesday at the summit of the G7 leaders in Evian in eastern France. This was their first face-to-face encounter since their meeting at the White House in February 2025.

Modi and Trump will be meeting for a structured bilateral meeting Wednesday on the summit sidelines. India and US have been trying to repair ties that were severely strained in 2025 after Trump’s claims of mediation between India and Pakistan post Operation Sindoor and Washington’s decision to impose heavy tariffs on Delhi. The two countries are currently firming up a bilateral trade deal.

The G7 meeting is taking place at a time when the US and Iran have agreed on a deal to end the war in West Asia – the crisis and the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz has impacted global energy supplies and economy.

Modi is attending the working meeting of the G7, the partner countries, the World Bank and the African Development Bank on the theme ‘Forging new partnerships and rebuilding international solidarity’.

Officials said India’s presence at the G7 reflects its standing as a leading voice of the Global South and a key partner in addressing shared global challenges.

“This is the 8th consecutive G7 Summit to which India has been invited. At the G7, India will not only speak for itself, but it will also give voice to the aspirations of the Global South,” Modi had said in a statement before heading to France.

He is also scheduled to meet Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and UAE’s President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Tuesday.

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In February, French President Emmanuel Macron had invited Modi to the G7 summit and to engage actively in preparatory discussions on global macroeconomic imbalances and a new paradigm for international partnerships and solidarity.

Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More

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