US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have agreed to start negotiations to reduce the US trade deficit with India.

The two leaders held talks at the White House on Thursday.

At a news conference after the summit, Trump said the US runs a huge trade deficit with India. He said they had agreed to begin negotiations "to address the long running disparities," with the goal of signing an agreement.

The Office of the US Trade Representative says the US goods trade deficit with India was 45.7 billion dollars in 2024.

The US president also said they reached an important agreement on energy that "will restore the United States as a leading supplier of oil and gas to India." He added, "we can make up the difference very easily with the deficit, with the sale of oil and gas, LNG."

Trump said they had reaffirmed the strong cooperation among the US, India, Australia and Japan under the Quad framework to maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

He said the US will increase the sales of weapons and other items to India. He added he will pave the way to provide the country with state-of-the art F-35 stealth fighters.

The US apparently wants to change the situation in which India is dependent on Russia for weapons and energy.