Marco Rubio India Visit Signals Reset in US-India Relations Amid Trade & Security Talks | News18

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Viewers, Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State's visit marks the highest level of engagement by a member of the Trump cabinet since OP synindur concluded trade ties came under strain over tariffs and US Vice President JD Vance visited India in April 2025. Between then and now, US ambassador to India, Sergio Gore has worked meticulously, first in Washington and now in Delhi as a change agent attempting to re-energize a partnership that had for a while become beset by distractions and strategic ambiguity. Indeed, since assuming office, President Donald Trump intensified US outreach to Pakistan ahead of a military campaign against Iran while simultaneously engaging China, culminating in an optically searchcharged meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping a few days ago. No more.

[00:00:59]The Rubio and Gore alliance both set the tone signaling DC's pivot back to India.

[00:01:09]Rubio in the run-up to his visit has said there's a lot of work on with India.

[00:01:15]They're a great ally and partner. We do a lot of good work with them. So this is an important trip. And Sergio Gore says big things coming. The US has cutting edge technology. India has an amazingly skilled workforce and efficient cuttingedge EPC companies. So these partnerships are a win-win situation. He was emphasizing on energy ties. The notable feature of this period has been that despite testy exchanges over trade and tariffs, the broader comprehensive strategic partnership has largely held.

[00:01:51]Viewers, there have been many points of convergence.

[00:01:55]Cooperation across the quad framework, intelligence sharing mechanism, defense interoperability, semiconductor and critical technology initiatives under the IC framework.

[00:02:08]Collaboration in maritime domain awareness has sustained jet engine technology transfer talks are in progress. In fact, in advanced stage of negotiations, these touch points are expected to be fleshed out in these talks which may also prepare the groundwork for a possible meeting between Modi and Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit which is going to be taking place viewers in less than a month. The agenda that Rubio may discuss during the India visit touches upon all these green shoots as well as of course viewers this important meeting that could take place between the principles of two countries in France. viewers energy talks may include diversification away from Russian crude interim trade pact and broader bilateral trade agreements are likely to be discussed talks may cover tariffs market access critical minerals tech products and non-tariff barriers in fact viewers there's a lot of speculation about the fact that this visit will clinch the trade deal and lead to viewers signatures locking them or these two countries into viewers cooperation across boundaries. Now whether this reconnect succeeds in reloading ties in a manner that reinforces India's primacy within the US geopolitical imagination remains to be seen. But with Washington now more conscious of the costs of the Iran war, increasingly wary of Pakistan's familiar habit of tactical cooperation coupled with strategic hedging and newly reminded of the enduring depth of Chinese economic and strategic leverage. It is fair to say that parts of the American establishment appear to have rediscovered the wisdom of keeping Delhi firmly on site.

[00:04:13]viewers, let's open this up and have an honest conversation across the board.

[00:04:18]What does this new pivot which is leading to a reconnection actually mean? Let me begin with Derek Grossman, professor of international relations at the University of Southern California. Put this into context for us and for our viewers, Mr. Grossman.

[00:04:38]Well, it's great to be with you again, Raul, and to see everybody here. And I think it's I think it's a really important moment, like you said, you know, this is a senior most Trump administration official to visit since uh Trump took a sledgehammer to the relationship back last summer. And I think what you're going to see is mostly symbolism that the US is interested in repairing the relationship with India.

[00:05:03]We already have the free trade agreement signed. So that is a substantive deliverable that I think in large part got us to this point because Trump really wanted to have that deal done.

[00:05:15]But now you also see Rubio singing the praises of India saying that India is a great ally and a great friend of the United States and you of course have Ambassador Gore doing the same on the ground there. And so I think you know this is the beginning of trying to uh re patch up the relationship the strategic partnership as it were. Now I do still have some concerns right you have Rubio talking about India buying more oil from the United States. So there's clearly this this impression from Washington that India should just basically do what the United States wants it to do. Right?

[00:05:57]And we've seen this across the board that there is this uh American perspective that that other countries need to basically just you know accommodate the United States and Trump's war against Iran alongside the Israelis has has complicated not just India's position but pretty much every country's position across the board especially in the Indo-Pacific because of this energy crisis and to say that India should simply buy more oil from the United States. And yes, extending the exemption on importing discounted barrels of Russian oil for another 30 days was nice. I mean, India was going to buy that oil regardless, I think. But there is sort of a lack of understanding and appreciation for the fact that Trump's war, which is reckless, unjustified, illegal, has really complicated everybody's position internationally and their situations domestically. And I think that's very lamentable.

[00:06:58]>> Okay, let me open this up. Michael Kougallman, senior South Asia Analyst, senior fellow of the Asia-Pacific Foundation. Let me weave you into this conversation. Would you say that this is an attempt at damage control or is it really just a reboot? I focused a little bit in my introduction on the fact that large parts swats of this comprehensive strategic partnership have not been affected by what we've seen on the trade front. So given that is this just uh once again as I said a reboot.

[00:07:35]>> Yeah great to be back here with you uh Rahul I think we're past the point where we have to worry about damage control.

[00:07:41]Um, and I think that similarly the relationship has already been rebooted.

[00:07:45]I think a a big objective, a broad objective uh for Rubio is to maintain the the regain momentum that this relationship has. We've seen the the tone and messaging of the relationship change in a big way. No longer are we hearing sharp criticism from the White House about India being a debt economy and criticism for it fueling the Russian war economy. We're not hearing that.

[00:08:06]That's key. As Derek said, there's now a trade deal. That was a big confidence building measure. And then also uh the fact that um we have Sergio Gore in New Delhi who appears to have made it his mission to get this relationship back on track. I mean I've been describing him as the the India whisperer so to speak.

[00:08:23]He is the guy I think he is he is really I mean in a literal sense Washington's man in New Delhi. I mean the one who is charged with getting this relationship back on track. And given how close Gore is to Trump, I mean we know that they're very close. That's pretty significant.

[00:08:38]um as well. I'd also say that, you know, for all the tension we've seen in this relationship uh in past months, I would argue that um it has never been an acrosstheboard view in Washington for this relationship to not work, right? I the White House had been driving US policy toward India uh in the initial months of Trump 2.0 and you know that's where the problems were coming from. I'd say that across the inter agency and the state department, DoD, elsewhere, Capitol Hill, there's always been a strong desire to keep this relationship on track. So, I think we're seeing things start to revert to the norm. I mean, it's true there are still problems to work out. Uh, President Trump's strong embrace and robust advocacy of the Pakistani military and and field Marshall Maner, that has not ended.

[00:09:24]That's going to continue to be a sore point in this relationship with India.

[00:09:27]But um I think that this is really this trip to put it spec simply is really about maintaining the newfound momentum that this relationship has seen in recent weeks.

[00:09:36]>> Jeffrey Ross G States Ambassador to Iceland who has a perspective also let me bring him into this. Ambassador Gunter, thank you very much for speaking to me. The fact of the matter is that yes, the Americans have engaged Pakistan to whatever end, but that doesn't automatically translate into the Americans hyphenating Pakistan with India. Sergio Gore, the US ambassador, he may yet choose to, but till now, since the time he's been appointed, hased Pakistan.

[00:10:14]Well, I I think the reality is he's the US ambassador to India first and foremost. Secondly, you have no idea how blessed India is to have an ambassador like Sergio Gore. He is arguably the most connected, strongest relationship ambassador throughout the entire Trump administration. I know him, I've met him, I'm friends with him. I also know, you know, Marco Rubio as well. So the blessing that India has to strengthen the relationship with having Sergio Gore as the is huge for both countries.

[00:10:47]Thirdly, the relationship has never really been jeopardized. We've all seen President Trump's rhetoric, you know, in diplomacy and it might not be the standard diplomacy that we see among state craft diplomats, myself having been a US ambassador to a NATO country in Iceland, but it's been incredibly effective. Fourthly, let there be no misunderstanding. India and America are tied together through their strong democratic commitments to uh being a democracy and that will never go anywhere. So being absorbed by all the rhetoric or your prior uh panelist, you know, who started off, you know, from USC, which is my former uh uh I'm an alum from there and hearing his uh real extreme Biden-like rhetoric is quite disappointing and appears quite uninformed and having no political experience whatsoever to be quite honest. President Trump has done a phenomenal job with the war in Iran. He is merely building strong relationships with India to improve the military relationship to improve the maritime relationship to improve the relationship when it comes to semiconductors and various other things. Modi has done a tremendous job. India is one of the great powers in the world right now.

[00:12:02]President Trump knows that and like I've been saying on your show for the last year, we are going to see a day in when we have a hundred thousand Indians in a stadium and Donald Trump will be there side to side with Modi and the same thing will happen to America and it'll happen. Why? Because India is such a great country, great democracy. America is a great country, great democracy and ambassador Sergio Gore being a brilliant choice to lead the charge on this. And let's face it, no one has more political capital right now in Washington DC than Marco Rubio. He's well on his way to being a tremendous success, far greater than probably many of the other secretaries of state that we've seen.

[00:12:41]>> Okay. The only reason, Mr. Gunter, I actually talked about the importance of Sergio G still not visiting Pakistan is because he also happens to be the US special envoy for South and Central Asian affairs and he was appointed since August 2025. So he has a wider remit and we were discussing that with some US officials a few days ago and they did point this out. They said that look for all Delhi's apprehensions that Donald Trump is re-engaging Pakistan and so and so forth you would like perhaps Donald Trump to be engaging Pakistan so he can also make sure that they there is leverage. There is leverage and they don't sort of yeah they don't they don't >> optics are important when it comes to diplomacy. We all know the importance of optics. Look at the picture that you're showing right now on your feed. The optics is important. So why would the great Sergio Gore head over to Pakistan and start rubbing in the face of the great Indian people and your great prime minister Modi? You have to do it in a diplomatic smart fashion. And that's what Sergio Gore is doing and that's what President Trump is doing.

[00:13:40]>> And and therefore and that brings me to the next question. Hush Pant, let me introduce you to Hush Pant is a noted academic. He is of course uh the vice president of RF right now, the Observer Research Foundation. a very important think tank here in India very consequential now Mr. Panther just fundamentally speaking there has been a few whispers since that's the word um a few whispers in corridors diplomatic corridors in India that perhaps under Trump and this is an impression I'm not saying that this is something that has been written into policy or anything that there's an impression that for Trump India is important but it's no longer an indispensable strategic ally is is this the right way of looking at this.

[00:14:32]Uh thanks thanks Rahul and u uh uh I think the question uh for India is at this point and I think the previous speaker pointed uh the fact uh they underscored that that reality that optics are important and I think in in the case of India US relationship optics have been uh in some ways negative uh in the last uh one and a half years of the Trump administration. So while everything else if you think of it bure bureaucratically if you think of it as two uh bure Indian and American bureaucracies engaging and doing business together that has happened uh cooperation on defense cooperation on technology cooperation on maritime domain awareness uh intelligence cooperation all that has is working but what is missing is this is is the top leadership from the US saying that look uh India is important And I think uh Mr. Rubio's visit should change the optics of this relationship because if that does not happen there are going to be consequences in the Indian public space and uh since you mentioned we just released a foreign policy survey in which uh India US has gone down in the rankings of most trusted partner by a massive 20%.

[00:15:54]And this is serious because in the public perception Trump administration has not managed India relationship well.

[00:16:01]So while I think a lot of credit should go to Mr. Gore, Ambassador Gore uh and uh and a lot of uh other bureaucrats, I think the message that Indians are not hearing from President Trump himself is that you know he he often gives contradictory messages. He often says that look Mr. Mr. Modi is a very good friend. But then of course tariffs come in and then the way Pakistan was was treated and and what happened after operation Synindhur. Now these may be unimportant for from from some American perspective but these are important points because these are the aspects and the and and the marginalization of Pakistan in in US India relationship has been something that has driven uh US India relationship in substantive ways in the last few decades and I think that optics that needs to change is perhaps Mr. Rubio's visit should change that narrative that look India matters and India matters substantively because the way Trump administration is looking at the Indopacific and the and looking at India's centrality in the in the Indoacific is also evolving. Now I think many in India would accept uh you know whatever I mean Mr. Trump is is the president of the US if he decides to change American foreign policy in ways he's he has a right to do it. India doesn't vote in American elections. But I think the the question that many in India are asking is that is there there some consistency in in Mr. Trump's approach to India is if if Mr. Modi is a good friend then why often it has seemed that that the Trump administration or particularly the statements that come out from the top are not in sync with the larger reality. Those questions will have to be addressed head on if some of these bickerings that we have seen in the last few years have to be overcome.

[00:17:40]I agree with a lot of the sentiment here that structural realities of of of our geopolitics is such that India US are natural partners but that has been that you know that idea has taken a lot of time to uh get to uh the stage that we are at and in that sense a lot of investment has gone into it by top leaderships in both countries across administrations including Mr. Trump's first administration, we saw a lot of investment in India and Indian diplomacy and I think for for many in India that seems to be missing at this point and therefore I hope that the optics of Mr. Rubio's visit sets it right and we are entering into a and we enter into a new phase which can then define the future trajectory of this relationship perhaps for a large part of Indian audience if if not for everyone else.

[00:18:25]>> Ambassador Gunter, would you like to come in on that before I go back to the other gentlemen? Yeah, I think it was very insightful comments by your guest.

[00:18:34]Um, the optics are extremely important and let us not uh forget who visited India already during the Trump administration. Uh, the vice president of the United States with his wife of Indian origin. That is a huge demonstration. That is huge optics.

[00:18:49]Wait, let's see who else is your US ambassador. Sergio Gore, one of the most connected people in the White House as of today. And now you have the great Marco Rubio coming to India. So let's not forget the relationship is strong.

[00:19:04]Of course, President Trump likes to work off two sides against each other. That is the Trump doctrine almost. That's how most how he works diplomacy. And remember, we've taken down the leadership of Iran. And let's face it, Pakistan was an important component of that. And now we have to go to the next phase. This is brilliant pragmatic diplomacy and international leadership on the part of on the part of Donald Trump and his relationship with Modi has been strong all the way along. So I think it's the importance of the Indian people as well as those individuals on the panel to see the brilliance of what's going on the productivity and I just can't wait to see those oil takers pull up on the coast of Texas and start supplying oil to our great partner in democracy India. Derek Rossman.

[00:19:54]>> Yeah. So, uh, Ambassador Gunther, uh, referenced me indirectly, so I feel the need to respond. I mean, you know, fight on. Uh, we both are at USC or were at USC and I appreciate that. But, you know, to say that Trump's war against Iran has gone well, I mean, it's just you're just drinking the Kool-Aid. With all due respect, sir, I mean, >> 13 casualties, six of them did not occur in the setting of war. And you know, he disag let Derek Cross have his he attacked my position, so and I'm not going to attack him personally, but he attacked me personally, so that's fine. But um you know the reality is that this war has not gone well at all. This is costing multiple billions of dollars a day. We still have the Iranians uh blockading the straight of Hormuz. They are setting up >> they're setting up a toll with the Omanis. If we really believe in freedom of navigation and we talk a big game about that, where are we to undo this?

[00:21:10]whether through negotiation or military operations where are we and I mean I think India of all countries is going to look at us and say the United States's credibility is on the line here right we have and and and you know Rubio's going to the Quad the Quad has consistently talked about maintaining freedom of the open seas right free and open Indo-Pacific if we leave the straight of Hormuz in worse shape than when we found it we're going going to have zero credibility on that issue. And the reality also sir, with all due respect, is that Trump did take a sledgehammer to the US India relationship last last year for no good reason. And you say that it's brilliant that he's negotiating with Pakistan. And you know what? He had a over two-hour lunch behind closed doors with the Pakistani field marshal Assum as we've talked about. He took no questions, gave no readout, gave no explanation for why he was doing that. So if you're sitting in New Delhi, how do you feel right now?

[00:22:15]I turn it over to our guest from from India to include Raul, you know, how do you feel about that that we are negotiating with Pakistan on all sorts of issues and Assam Munir orchestrated the terrorist attacks at Bahalum.

[00:22:32]>> I I I don't understand how you square that circle. raised eyebrows to put it mildly obviously it did and one is hoping that it was done because uh there was a larger play involved now that's that's the best way of sort of looking at this but Michael Kougelman how much of that is going to play into the Indian mind or in Indian minds when they sit across the table when Dr. J Shanker sits across the table from Marco Rubio and they've met in fact over the over all of this frostiness. They they've had meetings they've they've they've talked to each other and so and so forth. So it's not as if they're strangers to each other. That line remains open and so is the line between the prime minister and the president to be honest.

[00:23:20]>> Yeah, I I'm the last one that should be trying to read uh Indian minds. Um but I go back to what I said before that uh that's why this is an important visit. I I think that there's several signals that um the the Indian side will be looking for uh from Ruby. I think this makes a lot of sense. Um and one relates to to the Quad, right? We know that uh a leaders a Quad leader summit has been overdue. The fact that there's going to be a foreign minister level um visit presumably when Rubio is there is important. But I think that what the Indian side will be looking for and hopefully this will come is an indication from Rubio that the president would be willing to come to India at some point later this year to participate in a quad leader summit. I think that would really represent a true final reset of the US uh India relationship. I think that'll be critical. And final point I'll make you know the China factor really looms large here. Uh you know my my sense is that there are many in in in New Delhi and beyond and again I defer to you and Harsh here uh but many who have been thinking that perhaps the Trump administration would not be willing to maintain this rigorous competition with China and would not want to even pursue its foreign policy through the lens of competition with China. Um this has been a concern and this clearly has implications for US India relations. But again, if the US side is committed to the to the Quad uh if it continues to be committed to it, uh Rubio is presumably there for this Quad summit and if the president would be willing to go to India for a leader summit later this year, that would suggest that the US continues to be sufficiently concerned with China and the threats that it poses to US and Indian interests and the interest of all the Quad members. That I think would be a very powerful message um for the Indian side. that would ultimately be a good s a good sign uh for US India relations. I don't think that the Munir factor, the Pakistan factor are going to be big issues at all during some uh during Rubio's visit to India. It's going there's going to be a lot of focus on the positive issues. Um and there's going to be a lot of things they can discuss, but you know, as Derek's notes, the Pakistan factor will continue to loom large for sure. It seems like every other day, President Trump >> openly praises Aim Munir and even if he were to do that once or twice, it would be a significant issue. He seems to do it once or twice a week.

[00:25:35]>> Let me let me bring in Professor Pant as we wind down. Professor Punt, we've got about 2 minutes. Uh how big is the Pakistan wrinkle so to speak?

[00:25:48]>> Uh it's uh it's serious but it's not a deal breaker. I think uh there is certainly u uh you know uh I think India has made peace with the fact that Pakistan is no longer a strategic challenge. China is the is the real issue here. Pakistan can be managed by India Pakistan and and India doesn't expect America to come to India's aid uh if it it is taking on Pakistan and I think you know just the logic of of the evolution if India could manage US China Pakistan alliance during cold war when India was a much weaker state today India is a much more capable and self-confident country to take on its own challenges so I don't think Pakistan is the issue the issue is consistency and predictability from Washington in so far as its larger Indopacific strategy is concerned And I think that's where the quad meeting becomes important.

[00:26:35]That's where some of the message that Mr. Rubio will come becomes important.

[00:26:38]And I think the long-term trajectory of of the relationship has to be set. And I think that's where the focus would be and India and I think Indians would be looking at some of the key uh signs from this visit to enable them to understand where this relationship is will be going in in the second Trump administration.

[00:26:56]>> Well, I'm sure of will be at hand to do a dipstick survey right after this visit. Well, thank you gentlemen. Thank you very much for sharing your perspectives with us. It's been a engrossing debate.