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In New Delhi, Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to explain why President Trump has pushed aggressive trade and immigration policies affecting India and Indians in the United States.
By Edward Wong
Edward Wong is reporting from New Delhi on the visit of the U.S. secretary of state. He has covered international news for more than two decades.
May 24, 2026, 8:56 a.m. ET
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the Trump administration remained committed to a strategic partnership with India, apparently trying to defuse tensions from President Trump’s aggressive actions in the past year against India and Indians living in the United States.
“The U.S.-India relationship has not lost any momentum,” he said in a news conference in New Delhi on the second day of a four-day trip to India. “The relationship continues to be strong.”
Mr. Rubio, who has met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other officials on the trip, said the United States wants to continue working with India on trade and investment in advanced technologies.
And he said Mr. Trump’s efforts to impose tariffs on Indian imports to the United States — a 50 percent in initial salvos last summer — were not aimed at India specifically but were part of a global effort to create better balances of trade for the United States.
The tariffs are a tax paid by American companies that import goods from India.
“There’s a huge imbalance that’s built up and it needs to be addressed,” Mr. Rubio said of global trade. “This is not about India,” he added.
But the high tariffs imposed by Mr. Trump came after Mr. Modi refused to nominate the American president for a Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Trump has insisted that he played a crucial role in getting India and Pakistan to reach a cease-fire after each country carried out deadly military strikes against the other.
English (US)