Donald Trump has said India asked for a trade deal with the United States due to his tough policies, PTI reported on Tuesday.

“India called us the other day,” Trump said at a Joint Fundraising Committee Reception in Sioux Falls in South Dakota on Friday. “They said they want to do a trade deal. They wouldn’t talk about that with previous administrations. They were very happy at the way it was.” He added that he was going to “wait a little while”, but India wanted the deal soon, The Hindu reported.

Trump said the US and Japan have started discussions over trade. He said he had become friends with foreign leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “Practically, every time a foreign leader comes in to see me, whether it’s Abe of Japan, whether it’s Modi of India, I’ve become friends with all of them,” PTI quoted Trump as saying.

Trump’s comments came after he said he wanted to stop giving subsidies to growing economies such as India and China. Trump said he wanted the US, which he claims is a developing nation, to grow the fastest.

“We have some of these countries that are considered growing economies,” Trump had said. “Some countries that have not matured enough yet, so we are paying them subsidies. Whole thing is crazy. Like India, like China, like others we say, ‘oh, they’re growing actually’.”

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia Alice Wells on Monday said the US was working with India, Japan and Australia to keep Asia safe and secure, reported The Hindu. “Both sides agreed that fair and reciprocal trade crucial to the prosperity of our peoples,” Wells said.