Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the United States President Donald Trump have spoken about easing tariffs and resolving trade concerns between the two countries, while also shoring up defense ties.

By Nandita Bose, Trevor Hunnicutt and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) -India and the U.S. agreed on Thursday to start talks to clinch an early trade deal and resolve their standoff over tariffs as New Delhi promised to buy more U.

Modi's visit came as Trump ordered that US trading partners should face reciprocal tariffs - tit-for-tat import taxes to match similar duties already charged by those countries on American exports. He ordered advisers to draft broad new tariffs on US trade partners, warning they could take effect by 1 April.