The United States will increase military sales to India, US President Donald Trump said Thursday.
"Starting this year, we'll be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars," Trump said at a news conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House.
Trump also said they agreed to strengthen ties even further.
The US will also provide India with F-35 stealth fighter jets, he added.
Washington has long tried to deter countries, including its steadfast NATO ally Türkiye, from buying military equipment from Russia, threatening them with punitive measures under its Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
But when India signed a $5.5 billion deal with Russia for its S-400 air defense system in 2018, the US Congress recommended a waiver over sanctioning New Delhi for its purchase, citing its strategic importance in countering China.
"Today, the prime minister and I reaffirmed that strong cooperation among the United States, India, Australia and Japan, and it's crucial, really, to maintaining peace and prosperity, tranquility, even in the Indo Pacific," Trump said.
Modi said America plays an "important role" in India's defense preparedness, adding: "We are moving forward, actively towards joint development, joint production and transfer of technology."
The two countries seek to more than double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, he said.
"Our teams will work on concluding very soon a mutually beneficial trade agreement."
Trump also said they agreed to work together to help build "one of the greatest trade routes in all of history."
"It will run from India to Israel to Italy and onward to the United States, connecting our partners by ports, railways and undersea cables," he said, calling it a "big development."
"It's a lot of money going to be spent, and we've already spent some, but we're going to be spending a lot more in order to stay advanced," he added.
Trump said he believes that the friendship between the US and India is "the best it's ever been."
Trump said both countries can make up the difference "very easily" with the deficit, with the sale of oil and gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG), "of which we have more than anybody in the world."
The president also said they reached an "important agreement" on energy that will restore the US as a leading supplier of oil and gas to India.
"It will be, hopefully, their number one supplier," he added.
India is also reforming its laws to welcome US nuclear technology, Trump said, adding: "This will bring safe, clean and affordable electricity to millions of Indians, and tens of billions of dollars to the US civilian nuclear industry in India."
The US and India are also joining forces in the development of "artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies," Trump announced.
Modi said the two countries will jointly work in areas of artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, biotechnology and several other technologies.
