FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s meeting next week with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when Modi visits the U.S.
Modi is scheduled to be in the United States this weekend, along with the leaders of Australia and Japan, for a summit of the so-called Quad hosted by President Joe Biden in his Wilmington, Delaware, hometown. The group is formally called the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, and it began as a partnership after the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
The popular and polarizing Indian prime minister has advanced Hindu nationalism in his decade-long tenure.
The meeting between Modi with Trump had not been previously reported. The Republican presidential nominee referenced it for the first time while speaking at an unrelated event in Flint, Michigan. The Indian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.
Earlier this year, Trump met with other foreign leaders, including Hungary's nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán, whom he regularly mentions in speeches, and Polish President Andrzej Duda, who once proposed naming a military base in his country “Fort Trump.” Trump also met with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.
Foreign leaders have argued that meetings with Trump are part of standard encounters they have with opposition figures.
FILE - India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then President Donald Trump walk the perimeter of the arena floor to greet attendants after Modi's speech during the "Howdi Modi" event, September 22, 2019, at NRG Stadium in Houston. Trump says he’s meeting next week with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi is scheduled to be in the United States this weekend hosted by President Joe Biden in his Wilmington, Delaware hometown along with leaders of Australia and Japan for a summit of the so-called Quad. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke, File)
