U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held talks with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Mumbai on Tuesday before visiting Mukesh Ambani, the head of the largest business in India, on Wednesday.
The meetings follow both President Trump’s lifting of the extremely punitive “Lindsey Graham “ sanctions, which penalized India for buying Russian oil, and some progress on reaching a trade deal between the U.S. and India. On the trade agreement: “We’re very, very close. I would say we’re about as close as you can be without having executed the agreement,” Rubio told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday. “I think there’s a small number of items left to wrap up, so I think that will happen shortly.” India is expanding its purchase of Russian oil, and is also doubling its purchase of oil from Venezuela.
AP reported that Jaishankar and Rubio also held a trilateral meeting with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was also visiting India. Rubio said that the three officials met to discuss “regional energy security and advance our shared economic priorities.”