Marco Rubio Holds Talks With Jaishankar in New Delhi to Repair U.S.-India Ties

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held bilateral talks with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on Sunday as Washington and New Delhi tried to steady ties that have fallen to their lowest point in over two decades.

“Rubio tries to tackle a trust deficit between Washington and Delhi on first official India trip Rubio tries to tackle a trust deficit between Washington and Delhi on first official India trip NEW DELHI (AP) — U”

Associated Press

The Associated Press said Rubio’s first official visit came amid an economic and diplomatic downturn between the United States and India, largely strained by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies that raised duties on several Indian exports.

Associated Press

Rubio told reporters, “I don’t view our relation with any country in the world as coming at the expense of our strategic alliance with India,” and he said he hoped the relationship would come out “much stronger in the coming years.”

Jaishankar said the U.S.-India strategic partnership exists because of a “convergence of national interests” in multiple areas, and he added that both sides are “obviously driven by our respective national interests.”

Ashok Malik, a former policy adviser in India’s Foreign Ministry, said in the past one year “statements and rhetoric coming from Washington on some of India’s most sensitive security concerns and trade matters have not been helpful and have created a trust deficit.”

Malik added that “Certain misgivings will remain,” and the visit would be considered an achievement if the talks “somewhat stabilize the relationship and check further deterioration,” according to the Associated Press.

Free Press Journal

WSVN’s AP wire account said Rubio arrived in New Delhi on Saturday for his first official visit to India and is set to meet in New Delhi on Tuesday his counterparts from India, Australia and Japan, members of the Indo-Pacific strategic alliance known as the Quad.

In the same AP reporting, Jaishankar said the Trump administration had been “very forthright in putting forward its foreign policy outlook as America first,” while “We have a view of India first.”

The Associated Press said Rubio is set to meet in New Delhi on Tuesday his counterparts from India, Australia and Japan under the Quad framework, after a four-day visit that includes a multicity tour and a gala reception in New Delhi marking the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.

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Livingston Enterprise

Jaishankar said India sought dependable, multiple and cheap energy sources for its 1.4 billion people, and he said, “The United States fits the bill in many respects.”

On tensions in the Strait of Hormuz following U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran that sparked a war in the region, Jaishankar said India and the U.S. are keen on keeping global maritime trade safe and uninterrupted, while ensuring fuel remains affordable and widely available.

The AP also said Rubio stressed that Trump’s trade decisions were of a global perspective to serve the U.S. economy rather than targeted at New Delhi, and he said, “There virtually is no country in the world that I could travel to that isn’t going to raise the issue of trade because we did this from a global perspective.”