India and the US agreed on Thursday to start talks to clinch an early trade deal and resolve their standoff over tariffs as New Delhi promised to buy more US oil, gas, and military equipment and fight illegal immigration.

The agreements followed talks between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House, just hours after Trump criticised the business climate in India and announced a roadmap for reciprocal tariffs on countries imposing duties on US imports.

“Prime Minister Modi recently announced the reductions to India’s unfair, very strong tariffs that limit us access to the Indian market, very strongly,” Trump said. “And really it’s a big problem I must say.”

The deal to resolve trade concerns could be completed within the next seven months, said India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.

A joint statement after the meeting said Washington welcomed New Delhi’s recent steps to lower tariffs on select US products and increase market access to US farm goods, while aiming to negotiate the initial segments of a trade deal by autumn 2025.

While both leaders “had their perspectives” on tariffs, “what is more remarkable... is the fact that we have a way forward on this issue,” Misri said.

Some of the leaders’ agreements are aspirational. India aims to increase its purchases of US defence equipment by “billions of dollars” and may make Washington its “number one supplier” of oil and gas, Trump said at a joint press conference with Modi.

Delhi also wants to double trade with Washington by 2030, Modi said. Long-planned cooperation on nuclear energy, also discussed by the leaders, faces ongoing legal challenges.

“We’re also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F-35 stealth fighters,” Trump said.

Misri later said the F-35 deal was only a proposal at this stage, with no formal process underway. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

 What Trump wants

Although Trump had a warm relationship with Modi in his first term, he reiterated on Thursday that India’s tariffs were “very high” and promised to match them, even after his earlier levies on steel and aluminium hit India’s metal industry hard.

“We are being reciprocal with India,” Trump said during the press conference. “Whatever India charges, we charge them.”

Modi vowed to protect India’s interests.

“One thing that I deeply appreciate, and I learn from President Trump, is that he keeps the national interest supreme,” Modi said. “Like him, I also keep the national interest of India at the top of everything else.”

The two leaders praised each other and agreed to deepen security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific—a thinly veiled reference to competition with China—as well as to begin joint production on technologies like artificial intelligence.

A source described India’s concessions as a “gift” for Trump aimed at easing trade tensions. A Trump aide said the president sees defence and energy sales to India as a way to reduce the US trade deficit.

India’s energy purchases from the US could rise to $25 billion in the near future from $15 billion last year, Misri said, adding that this could help lower the trade deficit.

Tariffs will continue to dominate bilateral relations, said Richard Rossow, head of the India programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“It’s going to be a boxing match,” he said. “India is willing to take a few hits, but there’s a limit.”

The US has a $45.6 billion trade deficit with India. According to World Trade Organization data, the US trade-weighted average tariff rate is about 2.2%, compared with India’s 12%.

Fight illegal immigration

Trump wants more cooperation from India on unauthorised immigration. India is a major source of immigrants to the US, including a large number in the tech industry on work visas and others who are in the country illegally.

The joint statement said the two countries agreed to aggressively tackle illegal immigration and human trafficking by strengthening law enforcement cooperation.

India may prove critical to Trump’s strategy to counter China, which many in his administration see as the top US rival. India, wary of China’s military buildup, competes for many of the same markets.

Modi also fears Trump could strike a trade deal with China that excludes India, according to Mukesh Aghi, president of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum lobbying group.

India has maintained its ties with Russia amid its war with Ukraine, remaining a major consumer of Russian energy, while the West has sought to cut its reliance on Moscow.

“The world had this thinking that India somehow is a neutral country in this whole process,” said Modi. “But this is not true. India has a side, and that side is of peace.”