Good morning and welcome to White House Watch. In today’s edition:

• Modi “agrees” to stop buying Russian oil

• US-Iran talks expected in coming days, diplomats say

• Trump urges US lawmakers to avoid government shutdown

Donald Trump said he would slash India tariffs from 50 per cent to 18 per cent after he claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to stop buying Russian oil — and start buying more than $500bn in American goods.

Trump announced the détente in his months-long trade war with India yesterday on his Truth Social platform, after levying some of the highest tariffs worldwide on India last year.

“Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his request, effective immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India, whereby the United States will charge a reduced Reciprocal Tariff, lowering it from 25% to 18%,” he wrote on Truth Social.

The US president said he and Modi had discussed the possibility of India buying more oil from the US and even Venezuela, among other topics.

Trump, who formerly called Modi his “great friend”, had accused India, which imports about 90 per cent of its crude oil, of helping fund Moscow’s war machine in Ukraine. In August, he slapped a 25 per cent punitive levy on India over its purchases of Russian oil on top of the 25 per cent “reciprocal” tariff, raising total duties to 50 per cent — among the highest levels in the world.

India’s agreement to stop buying Russian oil meant the punitive levy could be removed, US officials said.

But analysts were sceptical that India would buy as much from the US as Trump claimed, given that total bilateral trade between the countries amounted to $212bn in 2024.

The latest headlines

What we’re hearing

The Trump administration is talking to Iran, and the two parties are seriously considering a rendezvous later this week to try to hash out a deal to avoid another round of US military strikes, regional officials told the FT.

Turkey, Qatar, Oman and Egypt are working to arrange a meeting between the two adversaries, with diplomats saying that talks are expected to happen in Turkey on Friday.

Trump has repeatedly threatened the Islamic Republic, and last month said he would come to the “rescue” of protesters amid a violent crackdown by the Iranian regime. He has in recent days mused about having to “use” the “armada” of US Navy ships that he has deployed to the region.

People familiar with the potential meeting this week said the talks would initially focus on Iran’s nuclear programme rather than issues such as the crackdown or the nation’s ballistic missile arsenal, or its support for regional militant groups.

The US had previously scheduled direct talks with Iran last June, but then joined a war launched by Israel on the Islamic Republic before those talks could occur.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote on X on Monday that the US and Israel, which he said “orchestrated” the “recent sedition” — the nationwide protests — would continue with their efforts to bring down the regime.

Such acts of “sedition” would continue, he wrote in a series of X posts, “until the Iranian nation reaches a point where the enemy is left hopeless. And we will reach that point.”

Viewpoints

• The Epstein files offer America the opposite of closure. They are the latest widening of a scandal that has become a leitmotif of our time, says Edward Luce.

• Rana Foroohar, who grew up in the American heartland, examines whether the Midwest can stop Maga.

• Elizabeth Braw writes on the political unpopularity of US brands.

• China is the main beneficiary of Trump’s Arctic antics, argues author Isaac Kardon.

• Markets are set to test the next Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh. Here’s what Yardeni Research president Edward Yardeni expects.