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www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know News India Times (November 22, 2025 - November 28, 2025) November 28, 2025 10 Community Trump Gives Warm Welcome To New York’s Mayor-Elect Mamdani At White House Meeting W ASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump gave a warm greeting to incoming NewYork City mayor Zohran Mamdani at theWhite House on Friday, praising Mamdani’s electoral victory in the first in-person meeting for the political opposites, who have clashed over everything from immigration to economic policy. A democratic socialist and little- known state lawmaker who won New York’s mayoral race earlier this month, Mamdani requested the sit-down with Trump to discuss cost-of-living issues and public safety. After months of trading barbs and insults in the media, the mayor-elect and the president appeared to put aside their differences and quickly strike a rapport in the Oval Office, a setting that Trump has sometimes used to embarrass heads of state. “We agreed on a lot more than I thought,” Trump said after inviting journalists into the Oval Office following a private meeting. “We have one thing in common: we want this city of ours that we love to do very well.” Sitting at his desk, Trump smiled up at Mamdani, who stood to the president’s right, and offered his congratulations on winning the mayoral election earlier this month: “He really ran an incredible race against some very tough people, very smart people.” “It was a productive meeting focused on a place of shared admiration and love, which is NewYork City, and the need to deliver affordability to NewYorkers,” Mamdani said. Trump said he was happy to put aside partisan differences. “The better he does the happier I am,” Trump said. As Mamdani surged in the polls to vic- tory, Trump, a Republican, issued threats to strip federal funding from the biggest U.S. city. The mayor-elect has regularly criticized a range of Trump’s policies, including plans to ramp up federal im- migration enforcement efforts in New York City, where four in ten residents are foreign-born. The 79-year-old president, a former NewYork resident, has labeled Mamdani, 34, as a “radical left lunatic,” a commu- nist and “Jew hater,” without offering evidence for those assertions. Mamdani has espoused Nordic-style democratic socialism, not communism. While a staunch critic of Israel, he was endorsed by prominent Jewish politi- cians, is bringing in Jewish staff in his new administration, notably NewYork Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, and has repeatedly condemned antisemitism. Trump tempered his language on Friday shortly before the mayor-elect’s arrival, saying he expected it to be “quite civil” and commending Mamdani for a “successful run.” “I was hitting him a little hard,” Trump told “The Brian Kilmeade Show” on Fox News. “I think we’ll get along fine. Look, we’re looking for the same thing: we want to make NewYork strong.” Earlier, Mamdani posted a grinning selfie on social media, taken in the seat of a plane bound forWashington. Trump’s Oval Office meetings have been wildly unpredictable, including re- spectful encounters with opponents and ambushes of guests, such as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa. Mamdani, who will be sworn in as mayor on January 1, said at a press conference the day before heading to Washington that he had “many disagree- ments with the president.” “I intend to make it clear to President Trump that I will work with him on any agenda that benefits NewYorkers,” he told reporters outside NewYork’s City Hall. “If an agenda hurts NewYorkers, I will also be the first to say so.” TRUMP THINKS MAMDANIWAS ‘VERY NICE’ IN CALLING HIM Uganda-born Mamdani will be the first Muslim and first South Asian mayor in the city that is home toWall Street. His energetic, social media-savvy campaign provoked debate about the best path for Democrats. Out of power inWashington and divided ideologically, Democrats are mainly unified by their opposition to Trump, who is constitutionally prohib- ited from seeking another term in 2028. Mamdani vowed to focus on af- fordability issues, including the cost of housing, groceries, childcare and buses in a city of 8.5 million people. NewYork- ers pay nearly double the average rent nationwide. Inflation has been a major issue for Americans, and it’s one on which they give Trump low marks. Just 26% of Ameri- cans say Trump is doing a good job at managing the cost of living, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll this week. The U.S. federal government is provid- ing $7.4 billion to NewYork City in fiscal year 2026, or about 6.4% of the city’s total spending, according to a NewYork State Comptroller report. It was not clear what legal authority Trump could claim for withholding any funding mandated by Congress. The two men were again trading barbs within hours of Mamdani’s election. “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” Mamdani told cheering supporters in his victory speech, which called for Trump to “turn the volume up.” Trump said he was puzzled by Mamdani’s speech after excerpts were replayed to him during the Fox News interview on Friday morning. “I don’t know exactly what he means by ‘turning the volume up.’ He has to be careful when he says that to me,” Trump said. “He was very nice in calling, as you know, and we’re going to have a meet- ing.” By Gram Slattery, Jonathan Allen And Trevor Hunnicutt U.S. President Donald Trump meets with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 21, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst