New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday appreciated and reciprocated US President Donald Trump’s “positive assessment” of bilateral ties after the American leader said he would “always be friends” with Modi and pointed to a “special relationship” between the two countries.

Modi took to social media to respond to Trump’s comments during a news conference at the White House hours earlier, marking the first positive exchange between the two leaders since they last spoke on the telephone on June 17. The tenor of the exchange was different from the criticism that Trump and his senior aides have directed against India and its leadership in recent weeks, largely over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil.

“Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump’s sentiments and positive assessment of our ties,” Modi said in a social media post. “India and the US have a very positive and forward-looking Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership.”

External affairs minister S Jaishankar said Modi attaches “enormous importance” to India’s partnership with the US. “Where President Trump is concerned, he [Modi] has always had a very good personal equation with President Trump. But the point is that we remain engaged with the US, and at this time, I can’t say more than that,” he said.

Hours earlier, Trump was asked during the news conference about his social media post on Friday, in which he talked about losing “India and Russia to deepest, darkest China” – a reference to Modi being seen in the company of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin.

Asked specifically about who he blamed for losing India to China, Trump replied: “I don’t think we have [lost India]. I’ve been very disappointed that India would be buying so much oil… from Russia. And I let them know that. We put a very big tariff on India – 50% tariff, very high tariff.”

He added: “I get along very well with Modi as you know, he was here a couple of months ago. In fact, we went to the Rose Garden, the grass was so soaking wet, it was such a terrible place to have a news conference…”

Trump responded to another question about resetting ties with India by saying he would always be friends with Modi, though he didn’t “like what [Modi] is doing at this particular moment.”

“I will always be friends with Modi, he is a great prime minister, he’s great,” Trump said. “I’ll always be friends but I just don’t like what he’s doing at this particular moment, but India and the US have a special relationship. There is nothing to worry about.”

Trump’s comments came against the backdrop of continued criticism of the Indian government by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Navarro, whose criticism of India was rejected by the external affairs ministry on Friday as “inaccurate and misleading,” again accused India of profiteering from its Russian oil purchases.

Navarro responded to a report in The Washington Post, which said the inflammatory language of American officials was deepening the crisis in bilateral ties, by posting on social media: “India highest tariffs costs US jobs. India buys Russian oil purely to profit/Revenues feed Russia war machine. Ukrainians/Russians die. US taxpayers shell out more. India can’t handle truth/spins.”

Lutnick warned that India will have to face consequences if it doesn’t align with the US. “If India doesn’t support the US, they will have to pay 50% tariffs on exports to the US,” he said.

He said he expected India to return to negotiations for a bilateral trade deal and “they’re going to say they’re sorry and they’re going to try to make a deal with Donald Trump.”

The India-US relationship is currently facing strains it has not seen in the past two decades, and the downturn in ties has played out publicly, largely because of Trump’s social media posts and remarks assailing India and its leadership over continuing Russian energy purchases. The Indian side believes his public remarks betray the US president’s frustration at being unable to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

Modi and Trump last spoke on the phone on June 17, after they were unable to meet on the margins of the G7 Summit in Canada. That phone call was initiated at Trump’s request and lasted about 35 minutes. Against the backdrop of Trump’s repeated claims that he had brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan to end their hostilities in May and that he had used the issue of trade to get both sides to stop fighting, Modi told the American leader that a trade deal had not figured in any discussions between the Indian and US sides.

Modi also told Trump that there were no discussions on US mediation to end the hostilities, which stopped at Pakistan’s request after an understanding was reached by the Indian and Pakistani militaries through existing channels. Modi also made it clear that India had not accepted any mediation by a third party in the past or present and would not do so in future.

On Friday, the external affairs ministry said it would not comment on Trump’s social media post about losing “India and Russia to deepest, darkest China.”