Modi ‘tough cookie’, ‘great leader’ who has been in power for over 12 years, says Trump

U.S. 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.

In an interview with Axios, Mr. Trump referred to China’s President Xi Jinping and Mr. 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,” Mr. Trump said in response to a question on the two greatest leaders he likes the most for their power, leverage and the ability to deliver results.

Mr. Trump said the U.S. does a lot of business with India, which earlier used to “rip us off”.

“And 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,” Mr. Trump said.

“They’re not that happy about it because they used to do a lot better. So Modi’s great,” Mr. Trump said.

The U.S. President hailed Mr. 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,” Mr. Trump 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,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi met on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in France on Wednesday (June 17, 2026) in an attempt to repair the relationship between the two countries that has been under strain over the past year.

Mr. Trump said he had watched India over the years and seen leaders change quite often.

“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,” Mr. Trump said.

The U.S. President then listed Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as leaders whom he liked.