Rubio meets Modi during India visit with energy high on agenda Vikas Pandey and Nikhil InamdarDelhi and MumbaiIndian GovernmentUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio has held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi as part of a four-day visit to the country.Rubio arrived in the eastern city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) on Saturday morning before travelling to the capital. He is also due to visit Jaipur and Agra.He extended an invitation to visit the White House to Modi during their meeting, US officials said. The Indian premier, meanwhile, said the pair had discussed "issues related to regional and global peace and security".The visit comes as the two nations seek to reshape their economic relationship, and amid a global energy crisis triggered by the Iran war that has acutely affected India.Energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz - a narrow waterway that has become a flashpoint since Israel and the US attacked Iran - have virtually ground to a halt.Iran has used the effective closure of the strait, through which around 20% of the world's oil and natural gas flows, as a pressure tactic in the fragile peace negotiations with the US.India, which imports more than 80% of its energy needs, has suffered as a result.
Nearly half of India's crude oil imports usually pass through the strait.Rubio discussed the situation in the Middle East with Modi, his spokesman said following their meeting."[He] emphasised that the United States will not let Iran hold the global energy market hostage and affirmed that US energy products have the potential to diversify India's energy supply," the US official added.Rubio had indicated ahead of the meeting that the US was keen to sell India "as much energy as they'll buy".There will be appetite in Delhi to boost its energy imports from the US as it will also help bridge the trade deficit that has been in India's favour - something that has constantly irked US President Donald Trump.The US goods trade deficit with India was $58.2bn (£43.3bn) in 2025, a 27.1% increase on 2024.But it's not a straightforward solution. It's a much longer and expensive route for India to get energy shipments from the US.Getty ImagesTrump earlier said India has committed to buying more than $500bn worth of American goods And analysts say it is not logical for India to fill the current shortfall in its imports from the US."Energy security is going to be the key theme of this visit because the Iran situation is not going to be resolved anytime soon," Vineet Prakash, associate professor of US studies at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, said."The US has already given a waiver to India on buying Russian oil, but Delhi is likely to push for more concessions."Rubio's visit also comes under the shadow of prolonged tensions between Delhi and Washington over trade negotiations and conflicting claims on who settled the brief India-Pakistan conflict last year.While Trump has repeatedly claimed that he brokered peace between the neighbours, Delhi has consistently denied this with its stated policy of not welcoming a third party to mediate between the nuclear-armed nations in South Asia.What also appears to have displeased Delhi is Trump's open affection for Pakistani army chief Asim Munir, whom the US president has called his "favourite field marshal".Pakistan's peace mediation efforts between Iran and the US appear to have brought Islamabad and Washington even closer.Prakash added that this wasn't surprising, as Pakistan shares a long border with Iran and is strategically important for the US to keep the country close.But Rubio is not likely to make statements around Pakistan on this trip."Any talks around Pakistan are likely to stay behind closed doors when Rubio meets leaders in Delhi," Prakash added.AFP via ImagesExports from India to the US sharply fell across sectors, including textiles, after tariffs were imposedMeanwhile, the last few months have also seen Washington and Delhi offering an olive branch to each other.Trump's decision to lower reciprocal tariffs on India earlier this year from 50% to 18% after a 10-month impasse was met with a huge sense of relief in Delhi. Following a US Supreme Court verdict against his sweeping duties, the levies were reduced to 10%, further easing pressure on Indian exporters.The reduction in tariffs came after India committed to buy more American goods, including energy, aircrafts, technology and agricultural products worth $500bn, in an interim trade agreement in February.The two sides are currently negotiating the final text of a broader bilateral deal, but further details of the negotiations remain sketchy.Trade experts, meanwhile, are circumspect about the big numbers being thrown around because India's current trade with the US is at a fraction of the $500bn figure and Trump's announcements haven't been met with tangible investment commitments from India yet.For instance, Mukesh Ambani, one of India's richest men, has been conspicuously silent on Trump's pronouncement that his company Reliance Industries will back a $300bn oil refinery in Brownsville, Texas - the first in the US in 50 years.But amid uncertainty around what the final text of the trade agreement with the US will entail, India's exports to the US remained stable at $87.3bn in the year ended March 2026."Exports rose 0.9% year-on-year despite steep reciprocal tariffs between May 2025 and February 2026," Ajay Srivastava of the Global Trade and Research Initiative think tank told the BBC.And they have continued to rise further as the levies were brought down, with $8.5bn worth of Indian goods shipped to the US in April.This reflected "continued positive impact of the lowered tariffs", Crisil Research said, adding, though, that "given uncertainties around tariff levels, the trajectory of India's exports to the US remains monitorable".Amid the uncertainties, India has also been forced to liberalise its notoriously protec
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