NEW DELHI: India and the United States on Sunday sought to project continuity and momentum in their strategic partnership despite unease over trade talks and tightening American visa policies, with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar raising concerns over difficulties faced by legitimate Indian travellers seeking entry into the US.
Addressing a joint press conference in Delhi alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio after delegation-level talks, Jaishankar said the two sides had made progress in trade negotiations and remained committed to deepening cooperation in energy, technology, mobility and regional security.
“We spoke about the value of concluding at an early date the final text of the interim agreement regarding reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade,” Jaishankar said, referring to efforts to operationalise the broader bilateral trade framework envisioned during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington earlier this year.
An Indian delegation had recently travelled to the US for discussions, he said, while an American team was expected in India soon to carry negotiations forward.
Rubio confirmed that both sides were “on the verge” of reaching a durable agreement. “The US-India relationship has not lost any momentum,” Rubio said, pushing back against suggestions that trade tensions under President Donald Trump had strained ties.
“We are hopeful that our trade representative can visit here very soon… We’ve made tremendous progress and I think we’re going to wind up with a trade agreement between the United States and India that’s going to be enduring, beneficial to both sides and sustainable,” he added.
Rubio also defended Trump’s aggressive global trade recalibration and said it was not directed specifically at India. “This is not about India. This is about the United States in terms of trade,” he said.
“There is virtually no country in the world that I could travel to that isn’t going to raise the issue of trade because we did this from a global perspective,” the top US diplomat added.
Energy security emerged as another major focus of the talks, particularly amid instability in West Asia and concerns over global oil prices. Jaishankar underscored that India’s priority remained ensuring affordable and accessible energy supplies for its population.
“Our government’s fundamental responsibility is to address the needs of 1.4 billion people,” he said. “Ensuring the accessibility and affordability of energy for them is our prime objective.”
The minister outlined India’s balancing strategy in the Middle East, noting that New Delhi maintained strong ties simultaneously with the United States, Israel, Iran and Gulf nations.
“We don’t look at it as a zero-sum game,” Jaishankar said. “We have to manage and take care of all these accounts.”
He added that India’s interests in the region centred on peace and stability, the welfare of the Indian diaspora, uninterrupted maritime commerce and lower energy prices. “We want to see energy prices go down because we are a very big importer of energy,” he said.
Jaishankar also raised concerns over visa issues.
“People-to-people ties are at the heart of the relationship,” Jaishankar said. “I apprised Secretary Rubio of challenges that legitimate travellers face in respect of visa issuance.”
“While we cooperate to deal with illegal and irregular mobility, our expectation is that legal mobility should not be adversely impacted as a consequence,” he said, stressing that easier movement remained crucial for business, technology and research cooperation.
Rubio responded by insisting that recent visa policy changes were not aimed at India specifically, though he acknowledged broader immigration restrictions introduced by Washington.
Asked about concerns in India regarding US engagement with Pakistan’s military establishment, Rubio said Washington’s ties with Islamabad would not come at New Delhi’s expense. “I don’t view US relations with any country coming at the expense of ties with India,” he said.
