Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a diaspora event in Nice, France, Saturday. (Photo: X/@narendramodi)As Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump head to the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains in eastern France for a possible meeting and discussion on trade, their first in over a year after the slide in bilateral ties, India and the US faced off Saturday over American missile strikes on commercial ships in the Gulf region, killing three Indian seafarers in one such attack on June 10.External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said he had spoken to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – in a post on X, he said he had made the call Friday evening – and “reiterated India’s strong protest at the attacks by the US Navy in the Gulf that killed three Indian mariners” while underlining that “such lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified”.Hours later, the US Department of State pushed back. Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said, “Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke yesterday with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. The two officials discussed recent events in the Strait of Hormuz. The Secretary stressed that all commercial vessels should immediately comply with orders from US forces as they seek to uphold peace and security in the Strait. He underscored that violations of the US blockade and the illicit transport of Iranian oil will not be tolerated.”The US statement, underlining its intent to enforce the naval blockade by making all commercial vessels comply with its orders, will escalate the row in India over the missile attacks on ships with Indian seafarers, and the death of three on board the MT Settebello.Jaishankar, who was in Finland on a bilateral visit, called up Rubio, hours after the Ministry of External Affairs summoned the US charge d’affaires Jason Meeks for the second time in less than 48 hours over the attacks.Rubio was in India last month, on a visit to repair ties that were severely strained in 2025 after Trump’s claims of mediation between India and Pakistan post Operation Sindoor and Washington’s decision to impose heavy tariffs on Delhi. The two countries are currently firming up a bilateral trade deal.Modi, who reached France Saturday, will be attending the meeting of the G7 on June 16-17 and it is likely that he will have a conversation with Trump on the sidelines of the summit. This will be their first face-to-face interaction since February 2025 in Washington.Story continues below this adFrench diplomatic sources said President Emmanuel Macron will host a meeting on West Asia on the summit margins. Leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman are expected to attend. Modi and Trump too have been invited to the meeting – both the US and Iran have indicated that they are nearing a deal to end the crisis in West Asia.Meanwhile, news agency Reuters, quoting a senior US administration official it did not identify, said US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will travel to India the week after the G7 summit for further discussions on a possible trade deal.According to the official, trade would be discussed during Trump’s meeting with Modi, but no agreement on a trade deal was expected at the summit.“We know that Prime Minister Modi is quite ambitious about the role he sees for India, the importance of the US-India relationship,” the official told reporters, according to Reuters. “We think a potential trade deal is part of that.”Story continues below this adTrump would insist on reaching “a very good deal,” the official said, adding: “We think a very good deal is possible. I don’t think we’ll close that deal at the G7.” Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More Tags:donald trumpNarendra Modi