In his first post on Monday, Modi shared a photo with Trump taken in Houston, Texas, during his 2019 US visit and said he was “delighted” to be on the platform.

Trump launched Truth Social in February 2022 after he lost the presidential election to Joe Biden and was temporarily banned from major social networks like Twitter and Facebook, which accused him of inciting violence.

As of 03:30 GMT, Modi had 21,500 followers and was following Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.

On Monday, Trump shared a link to an interview which Modi did with podcaster Lex Fridman where the Indian prime minister spoke on a range of topics, including his life journey, the Gujarat riots of 2002 and India’s relationship with China.

Much of Truth Social’s functionality is identical to X, formerly Twitter. Users are able to post ‘truths’ or ‘retruths’ as well as send direct messages. Adverts on the platform are called ‘sponsored truths’.

Truth Social is owned by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). Trump took the company public in March 2024 and now owns about 57% shares in the firm.

Kuwaiti-headquartered investment firm ARC Global Investments and some former Apprentice contestants also have a sizeable stakes, though those holdings are currently subject to legal fights.

The US president has 9.28m followers on Truth Social, far fewer than the 87m he has on X.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, traffic at Truth Social remains minuscule relative to its competitors, with its total user numbers trailing X by 400 times.

TMTG reported losses of $400m (£308m) in 2024 and a revenue of $3.6m. It has a market valuation of $4.45bn.

“I am well aware it will not be easy. But I also know that timing and determination counts,” von der Leyen said in Delhi, adding that such an agreement would be the largest deal of this kind anywhere in the world.

The EU Commission chief is in India accompanied by the entire College of Commissioners – the first such visit after the European parliamentary elections in June 2024.

She met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

Speaking in the Indian capital, she said the two sides wanted to deepen trade and investment collaboration in wide ranging areas like semiconductors, AI and cleantech.

India and EU relaunched talks on a long pending free trade agreement in 2021 and are set to hold another round in March.

An India-EU summit is also being held later in the year.

Von der Leyen also said that India and EU were pushing for renewed cooperation in security and stability and were exploring a future ‘Security and Defence Partnership’ with India similar to the partnerships with Japan and South Korea.

Brussels is keen to expand its relationships in the Indo-Pacific as cracks deepen between the US and Europe over trade tariffs and Ukraine following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Trump has said he is planning to hit goods made in the European Union with tariffs of 25%, claiming the bloc was created to “screw the US”.

The European Union said it would react “firmly and immediately against unjustified tariffs”.

Given the backdrop, analysts say strong trade and security relations with India have become more important than ever for the EU.

A trade deal has proven difficult so far due to differences in areas like agriculture and manufacturing.

Despite renewed negotiations “the two sides have little to show for the talks thus far”, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), a think tank, said in a note.

However, some 6,000 EU companies operate in India and the bloc is India’s largest trading partner in goods, with bilateral trade reaching $135bn (£107bn) in 2022-23, nearly doubling in the last decade.

After years of scepticism about free trade deals, India is now actively signing agreements and negotiating with multiple countries and blocs.

India and the UK restarted free trade talks this week, nearly a year after negotiations were paused ahead of general elections in both countries.

Last year, India signed a $100bn free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – a group of four European countries that are not members of the European Union – after almost 16 years of negotiations.

Trump announced expanded US military sales to India from 2025, including F-35 jets, along with increased oil and gas exports to narrow the trade deficit. Both sides agreed to negotiate a trade deal and finalise a new defence framework.

He also confirmed the US had approved the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, a Chicago businessman accused of playing a role in the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai.

“That’s a lot of deliverables for an administration less than a month old,” Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute in Washington told the BBC

“Overall, both sides seem comfortable continuing Biden-era collaborations, particularly in tech and defence, though many will be rebranded under Trump.”

Still, major challenges lie ahead. Here are the key takeaways:

Did India dodge the reciprocal tax bullet?

Modi’s visit came as Trump ordered that US trading partners should face reciprocal tariffs – tit-for-tat import taxes to match similar duties already charged by those countries on American exports. He ordered advisers to draft broad new tariffs on US trade partners, warning they could take effect by 1 April.

India enjoys a trade surplus with the US, its top trading partner. India cut average tariffs from 13% to 11% in its federal budget in a bid to pre-empt Trump’s tariff moves.

The jury is out on whether India appears to have dodged tariff shocks for now.

Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Delhi-based think tank Global Trade Research Institute (GTRI), says he doesn’t see any “problems with tariffs”.

The main reason, he says, is that 75% of the US exports to India attract import taxes of less than 5%.

“Trump points to extreme outlier tariffs like 150% on select items, but that’s not the norm. India has little reason to fear reciprocal tariffs,” Mr Srivastava told the BBC.

Abhijit Das, former head of the Centre for WTO Studies at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, isn’t convinced.

“The devil lies in the details. Reciprocal tariffs won’t just mirror India’s import taxes -other factors will come into play,” he told the BBC.

Trump’s approach could go beyond import duties, factoring in value added tax (VAT), non-tariff barriers and trade restrictions. While India’s goods and services tax (GST) on imported goods aligns with WTO rules, Trump may still use it to justify higher tariffs.

A US government memo on reciprocal tariffs hints at this strategy, citing costs to American businesses from non-tariff barriers, subsidies and burdensome regulations abroad. It also cites VAT and government procurement restrictions as non-tariff barriers.

Mr Das says the US is expected to push for access to India’s government procurement market, which is currently protected under WTO rules.

“This will hamper India’s ability to prioritise domestic producers, posing a direct challenge to the ‘Make in India’ initiative. This is certainly not good news for us.”

Mr Das suggests that India should counter Trump’s reciprocal tariff logic, particularly in agriculture where the US imposes strict non-tariff barriers that restrict Indian exports such as stiff maximum residue limits on chemicals.

He argues that since the US “heavily subsidises” its farm sector, India should highlight these subsidies to push back against American claims.

Tariffs alone may not help bridge the trade deficit between the two countries. Defence and energy purchases will go some way in addressing the deficit, experts say.

Doubling US-India trade to $500bn by 2030

The new $500bn (£400bn) trade goal aims to more than double the $190bn trade between the two countries in 2023.

Modi and Trump committed to negotiating the first phase of a trade agreement by autumn 2025. Talks will focus on market access, tariff reductions and supply chain integration across goods and services.

“The announcement that the two sides will pursue a trade deal gives India an opportunity to negotiate for reduced tariffs on both sides. That would be a boon not only for the US-India relationship, but also for an Indian economy that’s sputtered in recent months,” says Mr Kugelman.

What is not clear is what kind of trade deal the both sides will be aiming at.

“What is this trade agreement? Is it a full blown free trade agreement or is it a reciprocal tariff deal?” wonders Mr Srivastava.

Mr Das believes we’ll have to wait for details on the trade agreement.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean a free trade deal – if that were the case, it would have been stated explicitly. It could simply involve tariff reductions on select products of mutual interest.”

Priyanka Kishore, principal economist at the Singapore-based consultancy firm, Asia Decoded, says $500bn is a “tall target but there are low hanging fruit we can immediately exploit”.

“For instance the US sanctions on Russian shadow fleet are soon going to kick in, so India can easily pivot to the US for more oil. This will not be too difficult.”

Trump said at the joint press conference that the US would hopefully become India’s number one supplier of oil and gas.

Multi-billion dollar US defence deals, including fighter jets

India’s defence trade with the US has surged from near zero to $20 billion, making the US its third-largest arms supplier.

While Russia remains India’s top source, its share has dropped from 62% to 34% (2017-2023) as India shifts toward US procurement.

In a major announcement to deepen defence ties, Trump said the US would increase military equipment sales to India “by many billions of dollars starting this year” ultimately paving the way to providing the F-35 stealth warplanes.

But this will be easier said than done, say experts.

“This sounds good, but it may be a case of putting the cart before the horse,” says Mr Kugelman.

Despite rising US arms sales to India, bureaucratic hurdles and export controls limit the transfer of sensitive technologies, he says. The new defence framework announced at the summit may help address these challenges.

Also India isn’t “taking the F-35 offer seriously” due to high maintenance demands, says strategic affairs expert Ajai Shukla.

Shukla notes that US arms deals come with challenges – private firms prioritise profit over long-term partnerships.

Yet with delays and cost overruns affecting some of India’s arms deals with Russia, Delhi’s defence ties with the US look set to deepen.

Modi meets Musk even as Tesla’s India plans still in limbo

Modi met Tesla CEO Elon Musk to discuss AI and emerging tech, India’s foreign ministry said.

It’s unclear if they addressed Musk’s stalled plans for Starlink’s India launch or Tesla’s market entry.

Musk has pushed for direct spectrum allocation, clashing with Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, who favours auctions. His licence remains under review.

India is also courting Tesla to set up a car factory, cutting EV import taxes for automakers committing $500m and local production within three years. Tesla has yet to confirm its plans.

Taking questions – a rare departure for Modi

In a rare move, Modi joined Trump at a press conference, answering two questions – on illegal immigration and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) bribery charges against the Adani Group.

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, accused of close ties with Modi, was charged with fraud in the US last November over an alleged $250m bribery scheme.

Modi said he hadn’t discussed the issue with Trump. On immigration, he stated India was ready to take back verified illegal Indian migrants.

This was only Modi’s third direct press Q&A in his almost 11-year tenure as India’s prime minister. He has never held a solo press conference. In 2019 he sat beside then party president Amit Shah as Shah answered all the questions and in 2023, he took just two questions alongside former President Joe Biden.

Modi’s two-day visit comes as Trump recently ordered that all the US’ trading partners – including India – should face sweeping reciprocal tariffs.

And while both men praised each other’s leadership, Trump criticised India for having some of the highest trade tariffs in the world, calling them a “big problem”.

The Indian leader, seeking to soften impending trade barriers, said he was open to reducing tariffs on US goods, repatriating undocumented Indian nationals and buying military fighter jets from the US.

At a joint news conference, Modi made several references to Trump’s “make America great again” slogan, including his own spin to it: “It’s Make India Great Again – Miga,” Modi said.

“Maga plus Miga…[is a] Mega partnership for prosperity”.

Trump also added that India would be “purchasing a lot of our oil and gas” in an effort to close the trade deficit between both countries.

“They need it. And we have it,” Trump said.

With India already being reliant on imported oil, which it sources from multiple countries, the energy deal with the US “presents a relatively low hanging fruit for both parties”, Radhika Rao, a senior economist at Singapore’s DBS bank told the BBC.

“The US is the largest export market for India’s goods and services, which underscores the administration’s willingness to pre-emptively smoothen trade relations and offer concessions to narrow the bilateral trade deficit that the US runs with India,” she said.

However, “India’s challenge will be to balance its own trade deficit because US oil and gas might be more expensive due to a stronger dollar,” Amitendu Palit, senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Institute of South Asian Studies said.

“Reciprocal tariffs are likely to follow on India too at some stage. Hopefully for India, they won’t turn out to be larger than expected,” said Dr Palit.

Trump also added that the US would increase sales of military hardware to India by millions of dollars, eventually supplying Delhi with F-35 fighter jets.

The two also spoke about immigration – another pain point in bilateral relations – with Trump announcing that the US would extradite a man who allegedly plotted 2008 Mumbai terror attack to “face justice in India”.

Modi thanked Trump for allowing the extradition and vowed to accept repatriations of Indian nationals illegally living in the US.

Last week, US deported on a military plane 104 Indians accused of being illegal immigrants, with a video showing deportees in shackles. A second flight is expected to land in India on Saturday.

Indians are one of the largest populations of unauthorised immigrants in the US. They also hold the majority of H-1B visas – a programme that Trump had temporarily banned during his first term and is now coming under fresh scrutiny.

Shortly before his meeting with Modi, Trump had ordered his advisers to calculate broad new tariffs on US trading partners around the globe, warning they could start coming into effect by 1 April.

He acknowledged the risks of his tariff policy but argued the policy would boost American manufacturing and the country would be “flooded with jobs”.

Trump told reporters that “our allies are worse than our enemies”, when it comes to import taxes.

“We had a very unfair system to us,” the Republican president said before meeting Modi. “Everybody took advantage of the United States.”

The White House also issued a news release that fired a trade shot across the bows of India and other countries.

The document noted that the average US tariff on agricultural goods was 5% for countries to which Washington had granted most favoured nation (MFN) status.

“But India’s average applied MFN tariff is 39%,” the White House fact sheet said.

“India also charges a 100% tariff on US motorcycles, while we only charge a 2.4% tariff on Indian motorcycles.”

Trump has already placed an additional 10% tariff on imports from China, citing its production of fentanyl, a deadly opioid that has stoked a US overdose epidemic.

He has also readied tariffs on Canada and Mexico, America’s two largest trading partners, that could take effect in March after being suspended for 30 days.

Earlier this week, he removed exemptions from his 2018 steel and aluminium tariffs.