MUMBAI, India — MUMBAI, India (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held talks with India’s overseas minister in Mumbai on Tuesday as the 2 nations search to deepen vitality cooperation and transfer nearer to finalizing a commerce deal.
India and the US search to revive commerce negotiations stalled for months by tensions over American tariffs and the Indian authorities’s purchases of Russian oil.
“We’re very, very shut. I’d say we’re about as shut as you could be with out having executed the settlement,” Rubio informed reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday. “I feel there’s a small variety of objects left to wrap up, so I feel that may occur shortly.”
Indian Overseas Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar stated that they mentioned methods to strengthen bilateral ties in commerce, vitality, expertise and protection, together with talks on regional developments.
Jaishankar and Rubio additionally held a trilateral assembly with United Arab Emirates Overseas Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who additionally was visiting India. Rubio stated that the three officers met to debate “regional vitality safety and advance our shared financial priorities.”
Washington imposed tariffs of as much as 50% on most Indian items in August 2025 after commerce talks broke down. Below a framework agreed upon in February, the tariff fee was decreased to 18%, however the negotiations have since stalled.
Earlier this month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the talks had “plateaued.” Commerce and Trade Minister Piyush Goyal, nevertheless, stated final week that the primary tranche of a commerce deal was in its ultimate levels.
India says its ultimate tariff fee must be just like these of competing manufacturing nations resembling Vietnam.
India’s purchases of discounted Russian crude because the begin of the war in Ukraine in February 2022 have strained ties with the US at occasions. The Indian authorities has stated that it will develop vitality imports, together with from the U.S., whereas diversifying suppliers to take care of market stability and maintain costs reasonably priced.
Regardless of tensions, the 2 nations proceed to deepen protection and expertise ties, with Washington viewing India as a key counterweight to China within the Indo-Pacific.
Rubio’s go to to India follows a visit to Uzbekistan this week to advertise commerce and ties with Central Asia.
Rubio informed reporters in the US on Saturday earlier than his departure that India had diversified its vitality sources, however continued to purchase substantial volumes of Russian oil, making a right away shift to different suppliers tough.
“You’ve acquired nations like India, for instance, which have voluntarily diversified their vitality portfolio, however are nonetheless getting a considerable quantity of vitality from Russia as a result of it’s arduous to pivot from at some point to the following,” he stated. “However they’re additionally an vital ally and accomplice of the US.”
Rubio is scheduled to go to a refinery within the metropolis of Jamnagar in Gujarat state on Wednesday and meet with enterprise leaders, in response to the U.S. State Division.
The Jamnagar facility, operated by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, is the world’s largest refining complicated. In March, U.S. President Donald Trump introduced that the corporate was investing $300 billion to arrange an oil refinery in Brownsville, Texas.
Rubio final visited India in May.
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A earlier model of this story was corrected to point out that Rubio’s feedback on India diversifying its vitality portfolio had been made on Saturday whereas he was nonetheless within the U.S., not on Sunday in Uzbekistan.
