{"id":9567,"date":"2026-10-18T05:36:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T05:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=9567"},"modified":"2026-10-18T05:36:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T05:36:15","slug":"why-marco-rubios-visit-to-mumbai-has-ruffled-feathers-in-india-international-trade-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=9567","title":{"rendered":"Why Marco Rubio\u2019s visit to Mumbai has ruffled feathers in India | International Trade News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> is to visit India in the coming week, but he will not set foot in the capital, New Delhi.<\/p>\n

Instead, on Monday, Rubio will hold talks with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Mumbai, India\u2019s financial hub, and then visit an oil refinery in Jamnagar in the western state of Gujarat, according to a statement from the US Department of State.<\/p>\n

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His itinerary sparked a political storm after the US ambassador to India said Washington expected Jaishankar to travel to meet Rubio, prompting opposition leaders to accuse the government of allowing India\u2019s top diplomat to be \u201csummoned\u201d on home soil.<\/p>\n

The spat comes as relations between the two countries are strained over trade, tariffs and India\u2019s purchases of Russian oil.<\/p>\n

So why is Rubio avoiding New Delhi, and why has it caused such upset? Here\u2019s what you need to know:<\/p>\n

What is Rubio doing in India?<\/h2>\n

He plans to discuss trade, energy and investment.<\/p>\n

Rubio is arriving on Sunday from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where he has been meeting with five Central Asian states at the C5+1 summit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In India, he is due to meet senior officials to discuss the US-India strategic partnership and energy cooperation and hold talks with business leaders, the State Department said.<\/p>\n

Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal appeared to confirm the agenda, stating on Friday that the Mumbai talks would cover energy, trade and investment, defence, and critical and emerging technologies.<\/p>\n

In Jamnagar, Rubio is to visit the world\u2019s largest single-site refinery, operated by billionaire Mukesh Ambani\u2019s Reliance Industries, and attend a reception hosted by the Ambani family, according to The Hindu newspaper.<\/p>\n

\"Rubio
Rubio and his wife, Jeanette Rubio, appear with Ambassador to India Sergio Gor, also the US special envoy for South and Central Asia, at the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, on May 25, 2026 [Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/Pool via Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why isn\u2019t Rubio going to New Delhi?<\/h2>\n

No official reason has been given.<\/p>\n

Rubio was in the Indian capital in May for a meeting of foreign ministers of countries in the Quad, a group consisting of the US, India, Japan and Australia.<\/p>\n

The State Department has framed his upcoming trip around energy and investment, and the second stop on Rubio\u2019s India visit, Jamnagar, is one of the world\u2019s most important energy hubs.<\/p>\n

The visit also comes as fuel prices bite in the US before next month\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

Reliance, an energy, retail and telecommunications conglomerate, also sits at the centre of Washington\u2019s wider oil diplomacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Business Standard, an Indian financial daily, said the Jamnagar stop was significant because Reliance is the biggest buyer of Venezuelan crude oil<\/a> besides the US at a time when Washington has been urging India to buy more.<\/p>\n

Since US forces seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro<\/a> in January and took essential control of the country\u2019s oil industry, the US government has marketed Venezuelan oil to buyers abroad.<\/p>\n

Reliance is also investing in a new refinery in Texas, the first to be built in the US in 50 years, which Trump hailed as a $300bn deal when he announced it in March, Business Standard reported.<\/p>\n

\"Villagers
Villagers sit outside the Jamnagar refinery, run by the Indian business conglomerate Reliance Industries, in Jamnagar, India [File: Manish Swarup\/AP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What did the US ambassador say, and why has it caused upset?<\/h2>\n

Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi on Thursday, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said Rubio would meet Indian government officials in Mumbai, and Washington \u201cexpected\u201d Jaishankar and others from New Delhi to travel there to see him.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the week, however, Jaiswal had not confirmed the trip or explained why Rubio was skipping New Delhi, telling reporters the Indian government would announce it \u201cat the appropriate time\u201d, The Hindu newspaper reported.<\/p>\n

Jairam Ramesh, a general secretary of the opposition Indian National Congress party, wrote on X that the ambassador\u2019s statement was \u201cquite extraordinary\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition in parliament\u2019s lower house, also took to X to comment, writing on Friday that Rubio had \u201csummoned his employee to Mumbai\u201d.<\/p>\n

Congress MP Pawan Khera went further.<\/p>\n

\u201cA foreign government summoning India\u2019s External Affairs Minister on Indian soil is a new low, even by the Modi Government\u2019s standards,\u201d he wrote on X, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.<\/p>\n

Why are US-India relations strained?<\/h2>\n

Mainly because of Trump\u2019s tariffs and Russian oil.<\/p>\n

In August last year after a round of trade talks broke down, the US hit most Indian goods with a 50 percent tariff. Under a framework the two sides agreed in February, that rate fell to 18 percent, however.<\/p>\n

Since then, negotiations have stalled.<\/p>\n

This month, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the talks had \u201cplateaued\u201d, according to The Hindu.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said the \u201cfirst tranche\u201d of a deal was in its final stages but India would not sign until its exporters had an edge over rivals such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia, according to the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n

Other points of friction have emerged.<\/p>\n

Last week, US Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling announced that his department was suspending eight companies \u2013 including the Indian IT giants Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and HCL \u2013 from a labour certification scheme that is a key step for employers seeking green cards for their foreign staff.<\/p>\n

Sameer Lalwani, a senior fellow in the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote this week that Indian public opinion of the US has hit a record low, citing US engagement with Pakistan and the US-Israel war on Iran, which he said had pushed India back towards Russian oil.<\/p>\n

Despite that, he argued, defence and technology cooperation has quietly deepened, and bilateral trade grew by almost 12 percent in 2025 to nearly $240bn.<\/p>\n

In his view, \u201cperceptions of the political relationship have deteriorated faster than its strategic foundations.\u201d<\/p>\n

A sanctions law had threatened to make matters worse.<\/p>\n

Last month, Trump signed the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, which could impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on goods from the five largest importers of Russian oil or gas.<\/p>\n

India, one of the world\u2019s biggest buyers of Russian oil, had warned Washington that new tariffs could hurt bilateral ties. Trump signed an executive order seeking to waive the sanctions on Friday as he tries to ease high oil prices before the November 3 US elections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio is to visit India in the coming week, but he will not set foot in the capital, New Delhi. Instead, on Monday, Rubio will hold talks with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Mumbai, India\u2019s financial hub, and then visit an oil refinery in Jamnagar in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t