{"id":2992,"date":"2026-10-20T11:03:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T06:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2992"},"modified":"2026-10-20T11:03:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T06:03:43","slug":"rubio-kicks-off-india-visit-with-trade-deal-russian-oil-on-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2992","title":{"rendered":"Rubio kicks off India visit with trade deal, Russian oil on agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>US Secretary of State \u200bMarco Rubio will travel to India on Tuesday, days after President Donald Trump delayed tariffs on US \u200cimports from the world\u2019s largest democracy as the two countries seek to finalize a trade deal.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>During the two-day visit to Mumbai and Jamnagar in western India, Rubio is slated to meet government and business leaders, including Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and billionaire Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, which \u200boperates the world\u2019s largest refining complex at Jamnagar.<\/p>\n<p>Rubio and other officials have said in recent days that a \u200bcomprehensive trade deal between the two nations is almost complete, raising the possibility that it could \u2060be signed during the secretary\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n<p>Trump removed one potential stumbling block last Friday when he waived potential tariffs that would \u200bhave punished New Delhi for the nation\u2019s extensive Russian crude oil purchases.<\/p>\n<p>Under legislation signed by Trump in September, the administration is \u200bauthorised to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the top five importers of Russian oil, which would include India, which is number two on that list after China.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s decision to waive all substantive provisions of that bill has upset both Democrats and Republicans who have \u200bpushed him to up economic pressure on Moscow for its war with Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Rubio has said in recent days that the \u200beffort to finalize a trade deal was a factor in the decision to waive those tariffs.<\/p>\n<p>He also said that India has been \u200cdiversifying \u2060its import mix away from Russian crude, even as it still buys millions of barrels of Russian oil every day.<\/p>\n<p>He said the administration was entering a 60-day review period, during which it would consider which new tariffs, if any, to enact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve got countries like India, for example, that have voluntarily diversified their energy portfolio, but are still getting a substantial amount of \u200benergy from Russia because it\u2019s \u200bhard to pivot from one \u2060day to the next,\u201d Rubio said on Sunday. \u201cBut they\u2019re also an important ally and partner of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the Trump administration has in the past pressed India to cut Russian \u200boil imports, the US signed a deal with Russia last week to import diesel \u200bto bring down \u2060domestic fuel prices before the midterm elections, making it unclear to what extent that remains a foreign policy priority.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery country has a complex set of factors that they have to take into account,\u201d Rubio told reporters on Monday when asked about India\u2019s Russian oil \u2060purchases. \u201cGeography \u200bis real. For some countries, it\u2019s very difficult to acquire energy from alternative \u200bsources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>India imports more than 85% of its crude oil requirements to help power its fast-growing economy.<\/p>\n<p>Rubio is slated to fly into Mumbai from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, \u200bwhere he was meeting with Central Asian political and business leaders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US Secretary of State \u200bMarco Rubio will travel to India on Tuesday, days after President Donald Trump delayed tariffs on US \u200cimports from the world\u2019s largest democracy as the two countries seek to finalize a trade deal. During the two-day visit to Mumbai and Jamnagar in western India, Rubio is slated to meet government and business leaders, including Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and billionaire Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, which \u200boperates the world\u2019s largest refining complex at Jamnagar. Rubio and other officials have said in recent days that a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2992\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}