4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: May 25, 2026 05:31 AM IST
Joining an event hosted by the US Embassy here to celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s Independence Day, US President Donald Trump, in a a live phone call on Sunday, assured his “100 per cent” support to India.
“I love India… I love the Prime Minister. (Narendra) Modi is great. He’s my friend, and I just want to say a very, very good evening to everybody this morning here, and this evening there. And I just want to say, you’re great. We’ve never been closer to India, and India can count on me 100 per cent and our country,” Trump said.
“We have a record economy, a record stock market. And anything India wants, they get. And I’m a big, big fan of Prime Minister Modi,” he said.
Trump was on speaker phone with US Ambassador Sergio Gor, who called him up at around 9 pm IST (11.30 am in Washington DC), as about 1,500 guests, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, attended the event.
Addressing the event at Bharat Mandapam, Rubio said: “… We know that so much of what we achieved in our history has been built in partnership with other countries around the world, with which we share so much. And one of those relationships that I am so excited about going into… given the challenges and the opportunities of this new era, is India. It’s one of those countries that I know that we have this very valuable strategic partnership with, and we share so many values and so many common interests.”
“I will try to go through other celebrations of our 250th birthday in different parts of the world, although I doubt any will have a production like this one, but I want you to know that part of my visit here is also to reinforce how important this relationship is, how exciting it is, and how many opportunities we have to do things together. If I think about all of the key issues and all of the key opportunities of the modern economy, India and the US together are… perfectly positioned to work together on these issues to achieve a better life for the people of the United States, for the people of India, and frankly, for the people of other countries working together as well,” he said.
“Today, our two countries approach the world with certain common attributes. We are both political democracies, we are market economies, and we are open societies. These shared traits have, in recent times, been strengthened by a convergence of national interests, and that is precisely what has enabled us to overcome the hesitations of history. Our strategic partnership is expressed now in a very wide range of activities. They span trade and investment, defence and security, critical and emerging technologies,” Jaishankar said.
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Music composer A R Rahman was among those who performed at the event.
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#WATCH | Delhi | US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor connects with the US President live at the 250th Independence Day celebration.
US President Donald Trump says, “…I love India…I just want to say hello to everybody. I love the Prime Minister. PM Modi is great, he is my… pic.twitter.com/MxPrFWKdWO
— ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2026
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Happy to receive the US Secretary of State, Mr. Marco Rubio.
We discussed sustained progress in the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership and issues related to regional and global peace and security.
India and the United States will continue to work closely for… pic.twitter.com/CuD0DdDXB7
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 23, 2026
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