Modi 'Tough Cookie', 'Great Leader' Who Has Been In Power For More Than 12 Years: Trump

New Delhi: United States President Donald Trump lavished praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he is a "great leader" and "tough guy", who has been in power for more than 12 years.

Trump's remarks came during an interview with Axios conducted shortly after the G7 Summit in France. When asked who he admires the most, Trump referred to China's President Xi Jinping and PM Modi as the two greatest leaders he likes the most in terms of power and leverage and the ability to execute on that.

"I think Modi is very good. Yeah. They've had some very good numbers announced. He stays out of wars, which is smart. He's 1.5 billion people. He's actually the biggest. India's actually the biggest. And Modi's a great leader," Trump said in response to a question.

Trump further noted that trade ties between India and the US have improved significantly. Referring to the past frictions, he said, "We do a lot of business with them, but now we do fair business. They used to really rip us off. I don't blame them for that. You know, we had stupid politicians that allowed that to happen. But now we do a lot of business."

"They're not that happy about it because they used to do a lot better. So Modi's great," Trump reiterated.

At the same time, the US President hailed Xi as a leader of great stature and confidence. "If you were going to make a movie about either one of them, you wouldn't be able to find the man in Hollywood," he said.

"Modi in a very different way. Just highly respected. I know the real Modi is a very tough cookie. I'll tell you, I got to know some that I didn't know very well," Trump said.

Earlier this week, President Trump and PM Modi met on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit in France and held wide-ranging talks that focused on the proposed bilateral trade deal, defence and security ties and the West Asia crisis.

Trump said he has watched India over the years and seen leaders change quite often, but PM Modi is "very solid". "Somebody would be there for six months and then a year. And then all of a sudden, Prime Minister Modi ended up, he's been there for more than 12 years, very solid. And he does it through, like, there's a great calmness, and yet he's not a calm person. He's a very tough guy," Trump said. (With PTI Inputs)

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