Rubio and Jaishankar
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hinted at a “useful” and “sustainable” trade agreement with India, during his visit to India.“We have made tremendous progress, and I believe we will end up with a trade agreement between the United States and India that will be permanent and will be beneficial to both sides and sustainable in a way that addresses the national interests that we have,” the US official said in a joint press conference with External Affairs Minister Jaishankar.
He added that an American trade delegation will visit India “very soon.”
Rubio also noted that the United States has faced trade problems even with close allies like the European Union. “The difference is that India is a huge economy. This is a large economy where it is the major trading partner. We do a lot of trade with India, and there is obviously a big difference between rebalancing trade with a country of this size and this size,” he said.He added that Washington believes that the ongoing trade recalibration will ultimately benefit the United States and its global partners. “The good news is that through this rebalancing process, we ultimately seek and believe we will reach trade arrangements around the world that are good for the United States, but also good for our trading partners,” he added.Additionally, while Rubio emphasized strengthening Indo-US ties, he continued to clarify Trump’s stance on trade agreements.
Rubio strongly defended the Donald Trump administration’s trade policy, saying it aimed to reshape Washington’s broader global trade approach rather than targeting a single country.“This is about the United States on trade. The president didn’t say, ‘Let’s figure out a way to create friction with India on trade,'” Rubio said. The president came out and said, “We have a trade situation with the American economy that is not moving forward.”He added that the administration is trying to address long-standing trade imbalances through a global strategy. “There is a huge imbalance, and it needs to be addressed,” Rubio said. “He sought to do this from a global perspective.”Marco Rubio, who is currently on a four-day visit to India, made the remarks after holding wide-ranging talks with S Jaishankar that focused on enhancing cooperation in trade, critical minerals, energy and defence.For his part, Jaishankar raised India’s concerns over the changes in visa and immigration policy made by the Trump administration, stressing that legal mobility should not be affected. “People-to-people ties are at the core of the (India-US) relationship. I briefed Secretary Rubio on the challenges faced by legitimate travelers regarding visa issuance,” Jaishankar said after the bilateral talks.