US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is travelling to India on Tuesday for a two-day visit, days after President Donald Trump delayed tariffs on Indian imports as the two countries try to finalise a trade deal.
In Mumbai and Jamnagar in western India, Rubio is due to meet government and business leaders, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and billionaire Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, which runs the world’s largest refining complex at Jamnagar, The Express Tribune reported, citing Reuters.
No meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is planned, AFP reported. It is Rubio’s second official visit to India this year, after he went to New Delhi and Kolkata in May.
A deal “very close”, but not done
Rubio and other officials have said a comprehensive trade deal is almost complete. Speaking in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Monday, he said Washington and New Delhi were “very close” to an agreement.
But the prospects of signing it during this visit appeared slim, according to AFP. The deal has been a repeated source of tension:
- February: the two countries reached an interim agreement to cut US tariffs on Indian goods
- Days later: the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs, leaving the timing of the agreement uncertain
- This month: Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the talks had reached “a plateau, beyond which giving or taking might be very, very difficult”
Trump’s tariff war, launched in April last year, added to friction over India’s imports of Russian oil and Washington’s warming ties with Pakistan, AFP noted.
The Russian oil question
Trump removed one obstacle last Friday by waiving potential tariffs over India’s large purchases of Russian crude. Under legislation he signed in September, the administration can impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on the top five importers of Russian oil. India is second on that list after China.
The decision to waive the bill’s main provisions upset both Democrats and Republicans who want more pressure on Moscow over its war in Ukraine. Rubio said the push for a trade deal was a factor, and that the administration was entering a 60-day review to decide which new tariffs, if any, to impose.
“You’ve got countries like India, for example, that have voluntarily diversified their energy portfolio, but are still getting a substantial amount of energy from Russia because it’s hard to pivot from one day to the next,” Rubio said on Sunday. “But they’re also an important ally and partner of the United States.”
“Geography is real. For some countries, it’s very difficult to acquire energy from alternative sources,” he told reporters on Monday. “You also can’t unravel the economy of other countries because of one central issue.”
India imports more than 85 percent of its crude oil. Meanwhile, the US signed a deal with Russia last week to import diesel to bring down fuel prices before the midterm elections, making it unclear how much cutting Russian oil remains a US priority.
Why it matters
Washington is now balancing a trade deal with India against its relations with Pakistan and its policy on Russia. How far Rubio goes in Mumbai will show where India stands in Trump’s priorities. Read our reports on Trump’s suspension of Russia sanctions and on the stalled India-US trade talks.
This article draws on reporting by The Express Tribune, Dawn, Reuters and AFP.
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