The United States and India are on the verge of finalising a long-awaited trade agreement that will be beneficial and sustainable for both countries, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday, signalling fresh momentum in bilateral ties after months of friction over trade and tariffs.
Speaking after wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi, Rubio said the proposed pact would advance the strategic and economic interests of both nations.
"We've made tremendous progress, and I think we're going to wind up with a trade agreement between the US and India that is going to be enduring and is going to be beneficial to both sides and sustainable in a way that addresses national interests that we have," Rubio said at a joint media briefing.
Rubio is on a four-day visit to India, his first since taking office as secretary of state. The trip is widely seen as an effort to stabilise ties that came under strain over the past year amid disputes surrounding Washington's tariff and trade policies.
Rubio defended the Trump administration's approach to global trade, arguing that the US push to recalibrate trade relationships is not targeted at India specifically.
"This is about the United States in terms of trade. The President did not say: 'Let's figure out a way to create friction with India over trade'. The President came in and said: 'We have a trade situation involving the US economy that doesn't work moving forward'," Rubio said.
He added that Washington's concerns stemmed from broader structural imbalances in global trade. "There's a huge imbalance that's built up, and it needs to be addressed. He pursued it from a global perspective."
According to the US secretary of state, trade concerns have surfaced in nearly every country he has visited. "The president said we have to rebalance US trade. This is not about India," he said.
Rubio added that the US was seeking trade arrangements that benefit both Washington and its economic partners. "And one of those we hope will be India. In fact, we are on the verge of making that happen. We are hopeful that our trade representative can visit here very soon," he said.
Rubio said the broader India-US relationship remained strong and would continue to deepen during President Donald Trump's administration. "I believe by the end of this administration, it will be stronger than it has ever been. That's certainly our goal," he said.
The discussions between Rubio and Jaishankar covered cooperation in trade, defence, energy and critical minerals, along with India's participation in the US-backed Pax Silica initiative. Launched in December, the Pax Silica initiative aims to create secure and resilient supply chains for critical minerals and artificial intelligence technologies. India formally joined the initiative in February.
Responding to questions about Washington's evolving ties with China and Pakistan, Rubio said the US engagement with other countries should not be viewed as coming at the expense of its strategic partnership with India. "As far as our relations with other countries, we have relations, and we work at the tactical level, for example, and in many other ways with countries all over the world, so does India. That's what responsible nation states do," he said.
"But I don't view our relation with any country in the world as coming at the expense of our strategic alliance with India," Rubio added.
(With PTI inputs)
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