MUMBAI, India — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held talks with India’s foreign minister in Mumbai on Tuesday as the two countries seek to deepen energy cooperation and move closer to finalizing a trade deal. India and the United States seek to revive trade negotiations stalled for months by tensions over American tariffs and the Indian government’s purchases of Russian oil. “We’re very, very close. I would say we’re about as close as you can be without having executed the agreement,” Rubio told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday. “I think there’s a small number of items left to wrap up, so I think that will happen shortly.” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that they discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties in trade, energy, technology and defense, along with talks on regional developments. Jaishankar and Rubio also held a trilateral meeting with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who also was visiting India. Rubio said that the three officials met to discuss “regional energy security and advance our shared economic priorities.” Washington imposed tariffs of up to 50 per cent on most Indian goods in August 2025 after trade talks broke down. Under a framework agreed upon in February, the tariff rate was reduced to 18 per cent, but the negotiations have since stalled. Earlier this month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the talks had “plateaued.” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, however, said last week that the first tranche of a trade deal was in its final stages. India says its final tariff rate should be similar to those of competing manufacturing countries such as Vietnam. India’s purchases of discounted Russian crude since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022 have strained ties with the United States at times. The Indian government has said that it would expand energy imports, including from the U.S., while diversifying suppliers to maintain market stability and keep prices affordable. Despite tensions, the two countries continue to deepen defense and technology ties, with Washington viewing India as a key counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific. Rubio’s visit to India follows a trip to Uzbekistan this week to promote trade and ties with Central Asia. Rubio told reporters in the United States on Saturday before his departure that India had diversified its energy sources, but continued to buy substantial volumes of Russian oil, making an immediate shift to other suppliers difficult. “You’ve got countries like India, for example, that have voluntarily diversified their energy portfolio, but are still getting a substantial amount of energy from Russia because it’s hard to pivot from one day to the next,” he said. “But they’re also an important ally and partner of the United States.” Rubio is scheduled to visit a refinery in the city of Jamnagar in Gujarat state on Wednesday and meet with business leaders, according to the U.S. State Department. The Jamnagar facility, operated by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, is the world’s largest refining complex. In March, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the company was investing US$300 billion to set up an oil refinery in Brownsville, Texas. Rubio last visited India in May.
