Sunday, 31 May 2026
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to India this week centred on efforts to steady strained relations as the two countries seek to reinforce strategic and economic ties despite recent trade tensions. In meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Rubio stressed cooperation on trade, energy, defence and maritime security, and conveyed an invitation from President Trump for Modi to visit Washington later this year.
The two countries reached an interim trade arrangement that eased some tariffs and expanded Indian purchases of US goods, including energy products. But talks on a broader trade deal remain unresolved. The complications are multi-layered: Washington has grown closer to India’s rival Pakistan, with Islamabad emerging as a key interlocutor in efforts to end the Iran war — a new irritant in the US-India relationship. Meanwhile, India’s continued purchases of discounted Russian oil remain a friction point, with the US pushing New Delhi to switch to American and Venezuelan energy instead. The Quad foreign ministers’ meeting, also attended by Rubio, added a multilateral dimension to a visit that was as much about reassurance as it was about trade.
