NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his administration enjoys good relations with Prime Minister Imran Khan and Modi, reiterating his offer to mediate between both countries again on the issue of Kashmir .
Speaking to media, the US president said that he had good relations with Prime Minister Imran Khan and once again, repeated the offer to mediate between India and Pakistan on the issue of Kashmir.
In response to a question, Trump said that he and Modi "talked a lot about Pakistan".
"I have a very good relationship with Prime Minister Khan," he said, stating that his relationship with "both gentlemen [Modi and Imran Khan] is so good".
He said that "there has been difficulty in Pakistan and we're seeing what we can do about it". "Anything I can do to mediate, and to help I would. They're working on Kashmir. Kashmir has been a thorn in a lot of people's sides for a long time and there are two sides to every story, but they have been working on that for a long time" he said.
The US president said that "Modi will take care of it [terrorism]," saying that the issue was at the forefront of the Indian prime minister's agenda.
In response to a question, Trump said that he discussed the issue of religious freedom in India, saying that he got a very "powerful answer" from the Indian prime minister.
"We talked about religious liberty for a long time, in front of a lot of people and I had a very, very powerful answer from him [Modi]," he said.
When asked about India's controversial citizenship law, Trump said he did not want to comment on it. "I want to leave that to India and hopefully they will make the right decision for the people," he said.
"You have been criticised for your policies against Muslims, so were you in a position to talk about the current Indian polices,” asked a reporter. At this, the US president replied: “I won the travel ban, and we use it where we think it is necessary, and not based on a religion. We won it in the Supreme Court and we bar those people from travelling to our country who might hurt our citizens,” he said.
In response to a question, the US president said that the US was being charged a lot of tariff by the Indian government. He said that he knew that while the previous administration was not aware. "We're being charged large amounts of tariffs. Can't do that, you can't do that," he said.
Trump said that he was in India to make a deal and it was going to happen. "They {Indian government] want to do that, they will do that. I did a deal with China when everybody said I could not do a deal with China," he added.
Trump said that the US was being charged a lot of tariff when its goods were sent to India and it was not the other way around. "When Harley Davidson sends its motorcycles to India it's, they get charged a lot of tariff. When motorcycles from India are sent to the US it's virtually no tariff, for the most part, there is absolutely no tariff," he added. The US president said that "it's unfair and we're working it out".
He said that it was not a fair situation when American companies were paying a lot of tariff, saying that taxes were raised "not too long ago". Trump said, "It has to be reciprocal, the United States wants that and India understands that," he added. He said that the deficit between the US and India was $24 billion, which previously stood at $30 billion."It's still too high," he said.
Trump said that if the US and India did not make a trade deal, then they would do something else that would be satisfactory.