Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the White House Thursday to meet with President Trump to boost the relationship between the U.S. and India and avoid the same tariff fate that other countries have faced.

Mr. Trump was not at the doors of the West Wing to greet Mr. Modi when he arrived in his dark SUV.

The president held a bilateral meeting with Mr. Modi before a joint press conference. They were expected to discuss issues like trade, tariffs and other ways the countries can work together.

Mr. Modi is the fourth official world leader to meet with Mr. Trump in his second administration. He has also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah.

The Indian leader has been in Washington since Wednesday, and met with newly sworn-in Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. He had previously met with Vice President J.D. Vance in France at the global conference on artificial intelligence.

Mr. Modi also met with Elon Musk, one of Mr. Trump’s top allies and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, ahead of meeting with the president.

In an X post, he said the meeting with Mr. Musk was “very good.”

“We discussed various issues, including those he is passionate about such as space, mobility, technology and innovation,” he said. “I talked about India’s efforts towards reform and furthering ’Minimum Government, Maximum Governance.’”

In another post, he said he met with National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, calling the meeting “fruitful.”

“He has always been a great friend of India. Defence, technology and security are important aspects of India-USA ties and we had a wonderful discussion around these issues,” he said. “There is strong potential for cooperation in sectors like AI, semiconductors, space and more.”

Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi have had a friendly relationship, though Mr. Trump has slammed the Indian leader on his tariffs. On the campaign trail in September, Mr Trump called India “a very big abuser on tariffs. During his first administration he referred to India as “tariff king.”

The U.S. is India’s largest trading partner, with the U.S. importing $45.7 billion more from India than it exported there in 2024, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. And U.S. imports from India accounted for about 2.7% of all imported goods last year.

During Mr. Trump’s first administration, he visited India in 2020, where he was cheered at a cricket stadium. The year before, Mr. Trump held a “Howdy Modi” rally with the Indian prime minister in Houston.

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.