New York/Washington, Nov 5 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has said he could travel to India next year and noted that talks with India are “going good".

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

“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,” Trump said.

When asked if he is planning to go to India next year, Trump said, “It could be, yeah.” India will host leaders from Australia, Japan, and the United States for the Quad summit in New Delhi after the 2024 summit was held in Wilmington, Delaware.

However, the dates for the summit in India are yet to be announced.

In his remarks before the press, Trump reiterated his claim that he stopped the war between India and Pakistan in May using trade.

“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 termed tariffs a "great national defence". PTI YAS ARI

Tariffs as national defence: asserted deterrent to interstate conflict and tool to compel trading partners' conduct. The President indicated he may travel to India and referenced ongoing trade discussions and an invitation, situating the visit alongside the upcoming Quad summit. He asserted that he used tariffs as an instrument of national defence and economic coercion to compel cessation of hostilities between two nuclear-armed states, presenting tariffs as diplomatic leverage to modify state behaviour.