US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to India this week will give Washington an opportunity to “get the optics right” regarding ties between the two sides, amid friction over unresolved trade issues and broader international cooperation.
Rubio stressed cooperation on trade, energy, defence and maritime security in meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Sunday as he arrived in New Delhi.
Jaishankar said that the two countries have a comprehensive global strategic partnership “that impacts and influences other regions”.
On Tuesday, Rubio also held talks with top diplomats of India, Australia and Japan as part of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which came at a time when the group’s effectiveness appeared at odds with Washington’s assertive trade positions with its allies.
“This visit, more than anything else, is about getting the optics of India-US relations right, because I think there is a lot of concern that the Trump administration is either not invested enough in India or that the way it is going about engaging or working with India. It has not done it any great help,” said Harsh Pant, an international relations professor at King’s College London.
Trade tensions between Washington and Delhi have lingered despite the two sides reaching an in-principle agreement over reducing steep US “reciprocal” tariffs on India to 18 per cent from a peak of 50 per cent last year, including penalties imposed on the nation for buying Russian oil.