Donald Trump says he could travel to India next year

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump on Thursday said he could visit India next year, adding that talks with New Delhi are “going good”.

Responding at the Oval Office to a question on how his discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the trade talks with India are progressing, Trump said, “It’s great, going good. He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) stopped... largely he stopped buying oil from Russia.”

Trump said, “He's a friend of mine, and we speak... He wants me to go there. We'll figure that out. I'll go. I had a great trip there with Prime Minister Modi, he’s a great man. And I'll be going.”

He repeated that he could travel to India next year and that talks with New Delhi are “going good". “It’s great, going good. He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) stopped... largely he stopped buying oil from Russia,” Trump said, adding, “He's a friend of mine, and we speak... He wants me to go there. We'll figure that out. I'll go. I had a great trip there with Prime Minister Modi, he’s a great man. And I'll be going.”

Speaking about tariffs, Trump said, “Of the eight wars I ended, I would say five or six were ended because of tariffs. I'll give you an example. If you take a look at India and Pakistan, they started to fight, they are two nuclear nations... They were shooting each other. Eight planes were shot down. It was seven. Now it is eight, because the one that was sort of shot down is now abandoned. Eight planes were shot down.”

“And I said, 'Listen, if you guys are going to fight, I'm gonna put tariffs on you.’ And they both went, you know, they were not happy about that. And within 24 hours, I settled the war. If I didn't have tariffs, I wouldn't have been able to settle that war,” Trump said.

The President also called tariffs a "great national defence".

(With inputs from agencies)