Marco Rubio's India visit signals effort to steady ties

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's four-day visit to India last week took place amid lingering tensions stemming from Washington's "America First" approach under President Donald Trump.

Trade frictions between Washington and New Delhi, including tariffs on Indian exports and intense pressure over India's purchase of discounted Russian oil, have contributed to deep economic and political unease in India.

Analysts say these developments have shifted the bilateral relationship from a broadly upward trajectory over the past two decades to a more transactional and contested phase.

Trust is 'deep in the red'

Navtej Sarna, a former Indian ambassador to the US and a retired diplomat, cautioned that a single diplomatic tour cannot paper over a fundamental erosion of trust.

"Trust is in the deep red, interests are misaligned," Sarna told DW. "US actions, policies and unpredictability have impacted us deeply on trade, energy, immigration and so on."

He added that "India's position in America's strategic vision — regional or global — is no longer a given," and cautioned that New Delhi can no longer take its partnership with Washington for granted.

"A reset will take much more work than just a visit," he said. "We must see what happens on the ground on our core interests."

Underlying frictions test bilateral relations

Meera Shankar, another former Indian envoy to the US, notes that Rubio's visit followed "a period of strain in India–US ties marked by higher tariffs, tighter visa regimes and questions in New Delhi over Washington's reliability as a balancing power in the Indo-Pacific."

At the same time, US tensions with Iran and its outreach to Pakistan and China have reinforced New Delhi's concerns about Washington's consistency, even as India continues to pursue its own strategic autonomy through engagement with multiple partners.

Former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria said that these underlying geopolitical anxieties have created persistent irritation behind the scenes.

"Several irritants continue to weigh on the relationship. Washington's recent outreach to Pakistan's military leadership after the elections has not gone unnoticed in New Delhi," Bisaria, currently in the US, told DW.

Rubio seeks 'damage control' in India 

During a joint press briefing with Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Rubio defended Washington's aggressive trade policies as a global necessity rather than a targeted strike on India.

"The president did not say let's figure out a way to create friction with India over trade," Rubio said. "The president approached it and said we have to rebalance US trade."

Rubio added that he wasn't speaking about India. "I'm speaking more globally," he said. 

Rubio paired this defense with an olive branch, adding that the two nations are "on the verge" of finalizing a sustainable trade agreement "very soon."

However, the true benchmark of success for Rubio's visit was never a grand breakthrough — it was merely steadying a relationship showing visible strain.

US top diplomat Marco Rubio in India to renew strained ties

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Harsh Pant, vice president for studies and foreign policy at the New Delhi think tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF), argues that the primary mission was to correct a growing perception of American disengagement.

"His visit was largely an exercise in damage control rather than a major readjustment in ties," Pant told DW.

"While the core areas of cooperation between India and the US have continued, there has been growing concern in New Delhi that the top American leadership is not fully committed to the relationship."

Pant notes that Washington is now trying to "bring the relationship back on track, at least in terms of optics and political signaling."

"Whether anything substantive comes out of it will depend on what happens hereafter," said Pant, emphasizing that the real test will be "whether US messaging remains consistent and whether trade disputes are resolved."

Bisaria, the former Indian high commissioner, views Rubio's visit as a necessary corrective to pull the bilateral relationship out of a particularly volatile economic period.

"Political signals of reassurance from the US were required following months of strain over tariffs and concerns in New Delhi about Washington's approach to key regional issues," said Bisaria.

He described the visit as both "a reassurance exercise and a tactical reset" after what he calls the "bad dream" phase of Trump-era tariffs.

Bisaria suggests that this targeted damage control has managed to establish a temporary baseline of stability, noting that the relationship is now "entering a very positive phase."

"This is helped by the rollback of tariffs, and Rubio's visit was aimed more at stabilizing trust and signaling intent than producing a dramatic breakthrough," he said.

Partnership holds, limits remain

Ultimately, Rubio's visit proved that while the floor of the India–US relationship is holding, the ceiling remains low.

Iran war triggers fertilizer crisis for India's farmers

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Washington wants to sell energy and secure supply chains while New Delhi wants affordable oil and technological decoupling without sacrificing its strategic ties to Moscow or Tehran.

Shankar notes that while Rubio's messaging was broadly reassuring — reiterating the strategic partnership "not just in the Indo-Pacific but globally" — and pointed to expanded cooperation in areas like energy diversification, the structural hurdles to a formal trade deal remain formidable.

"Both sides have agreed to push forward discussions on an interim trade arrangement, but uncertainty in US tariff policy complicates the outlook," said Shankar.

"Ongoing investigations under US trade laws and the lack of clarity following recent legal and policy shifts in Washington make it difficult to finalize any agreement on predictable terms," she added.

Edited by: Keith Walker