Evian-les-Bains: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump will hold wide-ranging talks on Wednesday, which is expected to focus on expediting sealing of the proposed bilateral trade deal and ways to boost cooperation in defence, energy and critical minerals sectors.

A day ahead of their meeting that is taking place amid continuing strain in bilateral ties, the two leaders exchanged pleasantries and held a brief conversation at a gathering of G7 leaders, marking their first in-person encounter in 16 months.

Both Modi and Trump are in the French commune of Evian-les-Bains for the G7 summit.

While details of their brief exchange were not known, the encounter sets the stage for their high-stakes talks. The two leaders last met in-person at the White House in February 2025, weeks after Trump’s second inauguration.

Following US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to India last month, the two sides were now looking at rebuilding the bilateral ties.

The relations witnessed a major downturn after Washington imposed punitive tariffs on India and President Donald Trump made controversial assertions regarding his role in de-escalating the India-Pakistan military clashes last May.

Over the next few months, the US president repeatedly and publicly claimed that he had resolved the military conflict between the two neighbours and saved millions of lives as it was heading toward a full-scale war.

New Delhi stoutly maintained that the cessation of the hostilities was a result of talks between India and Pakistan, and the US involvement had nothing to do with it.

Washington’s new immigration policy and its decision to increase H-1B visa fee also contributed to the slide in India-US ties.

However, both sides made efforts in the last few months to repair the ties and even moved forward to firm up a mutually beneficial trade deal soon.