US Secretary of State kicks off India visit, invites Modi to White House

US-Israel war with Iran among issues looming large as Rubio expected to seek mend in ties with New Delhi. United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has kicked off a four-day visit to India and invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House. The trip beginning on Saturday was expected to focus on mending ties between Washington and New Delhi following recent trade frictions, particularly over India’s continued purchasing of Russian oil.

Other issues, including energy security, were set to be discussed, with India particularly hard-hit by the US-Israeli war in Iran and Tehran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. In New Delhi, Rubio oversaw a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new wing of the US embassy. The top US diplomat called the building a “sign of our commitment to this important relationship”. “This important relationship between our two countries is at the cornerstone of our approach to the Indo-Pacific,” Rubio said. The State Department said Rubio and Modi “agreed to deepen trade and defence cooperation and accelerate collaboration on critical and emerging technologies”. The visit will be capped by a meeting of the so-called Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad , a grouping of the US, Japan, Australia and India created in response to China’s power in the region. While existing since 2007, the largely defunct grouping was revived in 2017 and has regularly stoked Beijing’s discontent. The Quad meeting comes after US President Donald Trump visited Beijing and met with President Xi Jinping in early May. The event was heavy on mutual praise, but yielded little in the way of concrete agreements. Despite a renewed US emphasis on India in recent years, the early actions of the Trump administration have rattled ties. Last year, the administration doubled tariffs on India to 50 percent over its purchase of Russian oil, upon which the South Asian giant has long relied. Trump and Modi subsequently announced an agreement that would see India begin pivoting away from Russia.

Key points

• Other issues, including energy security, were set to be discussed, with India particularly hard-hit by the US-Israeli war in Iran and Tehran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
• In New Delhi, Rubio oversaw a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new wing of the US embassy.
• The top US diplomat called the building a “sign of our commitment to this important relationship”.
• “This important relationship between our two countries is at the cornerstone of our approach to the Indo-Pacific,” Rubio said.
• The State Department said Rubio and Modi “agreed to deepen trade and defence cooperation and accelerate collaboration on critical and emerging technologies”.