In their first meeting since Trump’s return to the White House, the two leaders emphasised the importance of stronger US-India academic collaboration.
“Recognising the importance of international academic collaborations in fostering innovation, improving learning outcomes and development of a future-ready workforce, both leaders resolved to strengthen collaborations between the higher education institutions through efforts such as joint/dual degree and twinning programs, establishing joint centers of excellence, and setting up of offshore campuses of premier educational institutions of the US in India,” said a joint statement by the heads of states.
The leaders also highlighted the significant contributions of Indian students to the US economy, noting that the community of over 300,000 contributes more than USD$8 billion annually and supports the creation of numerous direct and indirect jobs.
“In this regard, the leaders committed to streamlining avenues for legal mobility of students and professionals, and facilitating short-term tourist and business travel, while also aggressively addressing illegal immigration and human trafficking by taking strong action against bad actors, criminal facilitators, and illegal immigration networks to promote mutual security for both countries,” added the statement.
The meeting between Trump and Modi comes amid recent US deportations of illegal Indian migrants, with more deportations expected in the coming weeks.
Both leaders resolved to strengthen collaborations between the higher education institutions
Trump-Modi joint statement
Moreover, India’s financial law enforcement agency recently claimed that over 260 higher education institutions are implicated in a probe into an illegal scheme that transported Indians across the US border using Canadian study visas.
Partnership between Indian and American scientific research communities was also discussed between the two leaders.
“The leaders underscored the value of deepening ties between the US and Indian scientific research communities, announcing a new partnership between the US National Science Foundation and the Indian Anusandhan National Research Foundation in researching critical and emerging technologies,” said the statement.
“This partnership builds on ongoing collaboration between the US National Science Foundation and several Indian science agencies to enable joint research in the areas of semiconductors, connected vehicles, machine learning, next-generation telecommunications, intelligent transportation systems, and future biomanufacturing.”
The development follows experts’ emphasis on the crucial need for substantial research funding for Indian universities and scientific research communities to foster innovation in India, as discussed at The PIE Live India 2025.
Indian and US universities have already established a task force, created last year as part of the Biden administration’s US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology.
The leaders announced the launch of the US-India TRUST (Transforming the Relationship Utilising Strategic Technology) initiative to drive collaboration among governments, academia, and the private sector in applying critical and emerging technologies across various fields, including defence, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum, biotechnology, energy, and space.
The initiative will also promote the use of verified technology vendors and implement measures to safeguard sensitive technologies.
Despite Trump’s threats to impose “reciprocal tariffs” on India owing to India’s high tariffs on US products, both India and the US pledged to double their bilateral trade by 2030.
“The leaders resolved to expand trade and investment to make their citizens more prosperous, nations stronger, economies more innovative and supply chains more resilient,” the statement read.
“They resolved to deepen the US-India trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security and job creation. To this end, the leaders set a bold new goal for bilateral trade – ‘Mission 500’ – aiming to more than double total bilateral trade to $500bn by 2030.”
