AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.News AnalysisRubio’s Visit Offers No ‘Real Medicine’ for Wounds to Relationship With IndiaThe secretary of state visited India to reassure the South Asian giant that it can still rely on the United States. India did not gain much from the visit.Listen · 5:33 min Secretary of State Marco Rubio and India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, prepare to sign a memorandum of understanding in New Delhi on Tuesday.Credit...Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Agence France-Presse, via Getty ImagesMay 27, 2026Updated 1:23 p.m. ETSecretary of State Marco Rubio visited New Delhi this week to reassure India of its importance, but analysts mostly saw the trip as little more than a salve applied to deep wounds inflicted by the Trump administration’s policies on trade and immigration, and the war in Iran.President Trump’s blow-hot, blow-cold approach to India is a stark contrast from that of previous U.S. presidents, who sought to maintain good relations with India. India needs civil and stable ties with the United States, its biggest export market, and doesn’t want to attract the ire of Mr. Trump, which could disrupt its economy or jeopardize its ability to meet its enormous energy needs.India, which imports 90 percent of its crude oil, had come under pressure last summer after Mr. Trump slapped a punitive 25 percent tariff on India for buying Russian oil. It was lifted in February after India agreed to limit purchases of Russian oil. The Iran war and closure of the Strait of Hormuz also greatly reduced India’s access to oil, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask his fellow Indians to work from home to save fuel.The main issue is a “lack of consistency that we have seen in the Trump administration’s engagement with India and a lack of a public commitment to this relationship,” said Harsh V. Pant, a visiting professor of international relations at King’s College London.Mr. Trump has upended many of India’s assumptions about the nature of its relationship with the United States: The bedrock was an economic partnership, with a marginal role for Pakistan and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. Mr. Trump’s tariffs, his close relationship with Pakistan’s leaders and his seeming desire to cultivate stronger ties with China have called all of those assumptions into question.That has left India without a framework for engagement, Mr. Pant said.ImagePresident Donald Trump participates in a state banquet with the President Xi Jinping of China in Beijing earlier this month.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York TimesThank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT