MUMBAI, India — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a long-negotiated trade deal with India is nearly done, as he met Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Mumbai and pressed India to buy more American energy, according to The Indian Express and the State Department.
“I think we’re incredibly close. The way I would say it is, we are weeks, not months, away from I think finalising it. I think 99% of the work is done,” Rubio told The Indian Express. He said the remaining issues are “language-related. It’s basically down to what certain words mean, what certain phrases mean.”
The State Department said Rubio and Jaishankar discussed regional and global issues, including the Middle East, and that Rubio stressed that more energy trade with the United States could help India diversify its supply chains. He also praised recent progress in defense and civil nuclear cooperation. Rubio posted about the meeting on X:
Rubio told the paper that Washington’s tariffs and tighter visa rules are not aimed at India. “None of these tariffs are meant to punish or harm India,” he said, describing them as part of a broader policy tied to the war between Russia and Ukraine. He said President Donald Trump did not impose sanctions on Russian oil partly because of the harm it would do to relations with India.
The visit, Rubio’s second to India this year, also took him to Reliance Industries’ facilities in Jamnagar. Rubio said India is one of the few places that can refine Venezuelan heavy crude and called the visit a chance “to identify opportunities to achieve our goal of diversifying energy resources.”
Sources: The Indian Express, U.S. State Department, AP
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