Rubio Says Trump Planning India Visit Early Next Year

As trade negotiations between the United States and India are entering their final stages, U.S. President Donald Trump is planning a visit to India early next year, according to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

According to Reuters and major foreign news outlets on the 27th (local time), Secretary Rubio said in an interview with India's IANS news agency at the White House that he is highly likely to visit India within this year to prepare for President Trump's trip to India.

At the Group of Seven (G7) summit, U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a separate meeting and shook hands. Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News

Secretary Rubio stated, "India is a very close partner and ally of the United States, and the relationship between Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and President Trump could not be better. We are working to arrange the President's visit to India early next year."

He also mentioned that the relationship between the two countries has become even stronger since the two leaders met at the G7 Summit last week, saying, "I think things are going fantastically well. Our bilateral relationship is very strong."

He added, "We hope to conclude the trade negotiations," and said, "We are in the final stages of reaching an agreement, and the atmosphere is very positive."

Previously, on the 24th, India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said after a meeting in New Delhi with the U.S. delegation led by Jamieson Greer, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), that "the first-phase trade agreement negotiations are 99 percent complete."

Secretary Rubio also expressed hope that the Quad summit, the security dialogue involving the United States, Japan, Australia, and India, will be convened again in the near future.

Since last year, U.S.-India trade negotiations have stalled, while the Trump Administration imposed high tariffs on India in retaliation for India's imports of Russian crude oil and strengthened cooperation with India's biggest rival, Pakistan, which has strained bilateral relations.

In response, Secretary Rubio visited India last month to improve relations, but after three Indian sailors were killed in a U.S. military attack on a merchant vessel in the Middle East's Gulf of Oman on the 10th, the Indian government strongly protested, including placing a protest call to Secretary Rubio.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.