Marco Rubio arrives in Mumbai as India and US push to close trade deal

• Marco Rubio arrives in Mumbai for a three-day India visit
• He says the US is “very close” to a trade deal with India
• Rubio links Russian oil waivers to the trade talks
• No meeting with Modi planned; Rubio to visit Reliance’s Jamnagar hub

US SECRETARY of State Marco Rubio arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday for a three-day visit to India focused on trade and economic ties, as the two countries struggle to finalize a long-delayed trade agreement.

Rubio, on his second visit to India this year, is due to hold talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and meet business leaders. He is expected to be accompanied by a large business delegation.

Speaking in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Monday, Rubio said Washington and New Delhi were “very close” to a deal. However, the prospects of an agreement during this visit appeared slim.

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“We’re trying to finalise the trade deal with India right now. We’re very close to doing that,” Rubio said.

What’s on the agenda

India’s Ministry of External Affairs said the talks would cover energy, trade and investment, defense, critical and emerging technologies, and the situation in West Asia.

“The visit will provide an opportunity to sustain the high-level engagement between the two countries and advance our shared priorities,” ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

In Mumbai, Rubio will lay a wreath at the Taj memorial for the victims of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people, including six Americans. He will also attend a reception marking the 250th anniversary of US independence.

On Wednesday, he travels to Jamnagar in Gujarat, home to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries and its refinery, the world’s largest.

No meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is planned. During his May visit, Rubio met Modi, attended a Quad foreign ministers’ meeting and toured the Taj Mahal.

The Russian oil link

Rubio suggested that US waivers allowing purchases of Russian oil were tied to the trade talks. Last week, President Donald Trump suspended certain sanctions against Russia and five of the biggest buyers of Russian oil, including India.

The trade deal is “one of the things we take into consideration when the President makes a decision about national security waivers and things of that nature,” Rubio said.

He added that Washington had to weigh “our bilateral relationships with other countries and what they realistically are capable of being able to do in terms of their own energy supplies.”

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“You also can’t unravel the economy of other countries because of one central issue,” he said.

Stalled talks

The two countries have been negotiating since early 2025. They reached an interim agreement in February to reduce US tariffs on Indian goods, but days later the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs, creating uncertainty over when it would take effect.

India is seeking lower tariffs than its competitors in the US market.

Jaishankar said recently that the talks were nearing a “landing point.” But Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said this month they had hit “a plateau, beyond which giving or taking might be very, very difficult.”

A year of friction

India-US relations have been strained by Trump’s tariff war, his claims about his role in easing India-Pakistan military clashes in May 2025, and Washington’s warming ties with Pakistan.

Higher H-1B visa fees and new immigration policies have added to the tension. Ties came under fresh strain after the US restricted a green card processing program for major IT firms, including Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro.

(With inputs from agencies)