Trade and energy were at the top of the agenda in talks between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, on a visit aimed at shoring up ties battered by Washington's tariffs and engagement with New Delhi's rivals Pakistan and China.
Rubio – who said before the trip the U.S. wanted to sell India energy – pressed his case and told Modi that "U.S. energy products have the potential to diversify India’s energy supply," according to a U.S. summary of the meeting.
Rubio "emphasized that the United States will not let Iran hold the global energy market hostage," his office added.
The energy crisis sparked by the Iran war has set back U.S. efforts to wean India off Russian oil.
U.S. presidents, including Trump in his first term, have long tried to pull historically non-aligned India closer as a counterweight to Russian and rising Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific. Those efforts appeared to take a blow last year when Trump slapped some of the highest U.S. tariffs on India.
