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India, US talk ties, energy immigration in key meet

Jan 23, 2025 12:19 AM IST

The two met right after participating in a Quad foreign ministers meeting where they agreed to work for a free and open Indo-Pacific

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in his first bilateral engagement since taking charge on Tuesday, met external affairs minister S Jaishankar, with both reaffirming their commitment to stronger US-India ties especially in the areas of technology, defence, and energy, with the US also raising the issue of illegal Indian immigrants in the US and India agreeing to take back legal immigrants after they were identified as Indians.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar and United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio during Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. (Dr. S. Jaishankar-X)
External affairs minister S Jaishankar and United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio during Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. (Dr. S. Jaishankar-X)

The two met right after participating in a Quad foreign ministers meeting with their Australian and Japanese counterparts, a meeting at which they agreed to work for a free and open Indo-Pacific, a goal reiterated in bilateral discussions.

Jaishankar said that he was “delighted” to meet Rubio for the latter’s first bilateral engagement after assuming office. He said they had both extensively reviewed the bilateral partnership, of which he credited Rubio for having been a “strong advocate”. As a senator, Rubio had consistently brought forth legislation supportive of deeper strategic ties between India and the US, and India’s position in conflicts both with China and Pakistan.

Even as the tone of the statement, the timing of the meeting and the body language of the leaders suggested a high degree of cordiality, Rubio raise the issue of what the State Department termed “irregular immigration”. There are estimated to be over 700,000 Indians in the US without proper documentation.

Asked about it at a press conference at the Indian embassy in Washington DC on Wednesday, articulating India’s clearest position on the issue so far, Jaishankar said, “We had a discussion on a range of issues including mobility of people. We have a position on mobility which is a principled position. We are supportive of legal mobility because we believe in a global workplace and want Indian skills and talent to have opportunity. We are firmly opposed to illegal immigration. Many other illegal activities get joined to it. It is not desirable and it is not reputationally good. If there are any of our citizens who are not here legally and we are sure they are our citizens, we have been open to their legitimate return to India.”

The minister added India has been principled and consistent and had conveyed it to the US. But added that he also told Rubio that it was in their interest to “facilitate legal and mutually beneficial immigration”. He specifically referred to the visa delays from the US end that hurt people to people ties.

Jaishankar also met President Donald Trump’s national security advisor Michael Waltz at the White House on Tuesday, their second meeting in just over three weeks. “Discussed strengthening our friendship to ensure mutual benefit and enhance global stability and prosperity. Looking forward to working together on an active and outcome oriented agenda,” the minister said on X after the meeting.

Deeper tech, defence and energy ties

In the statement about Rubio’s meeting with Jaishankar, the new State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that the two “affirmed a shared commitment to continue strengthening the partnership” between the US and India.

“They discussed a wide range of topics, including regional issues and opportunities to further deepen the US-India relationship, in particular on critical and emerging technologies, defense cooperation, energy, and on advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” Bruce said.

”Regional issues” and “free and open Indo-Pacific”, in US-India diplomatic statements, are often code for acknowledging that the two sides discussed China’s actions.

The first Donald Trump administration elevated technology ties with India, but it acquired real momentum under Joe Biden with the unveiling of the initiative on critical and emerging technologies (iCET) under the NSAs of the two sides. There has been speculation about whether the mechanism will survive, but the signal from the ministers suggests that issues that fall within iCET’s ambit as well as in the regular bilateral defence cooperation will remain a key basket of cooperation.

On energy, India had stepped up its share of gas purchases from the US in the first Trump term and there is a possibility that it may do so again, as a signal to the US about India’s intent to bridge the trade deficit and support the American economy. The two countries have also been quite intensively discussing the issue of nuclear energy, with the Biden administration removing restrictions on three Indian nuclear entities, the Indian side expressing openness on its nuclear liability framework, and small modular reactors emerging as the next big hope in the field.

Trade and immigration

But the State Department also flagged two other issues and attributed it to Rubio rather than to both leaders, indicating the priority it had for the US side. “Secretary Rubio also emphasized the Trump Administration’s desire to work with India to advance economic ties and address concerns related to irregular migration.”

The framing on economic ties is open-ended. It comes in the backdrop of tensions on trade issues, especially given how central tariffs have been to Trump’s agenda, and investment-related issues. The president’s executive order on trade leaves room open for departments to consider trade deals, and Rubio’s more positive and forward leaning framing of the issue appears to indicate possibilities of progress.

When HT asked him about the nature of economic discussions at the press conference, Jaishankar said there was a discussion on the economy with both Rubio and Trump’s national security advisor Mike Waltz, though not in detail given this was the administration’s first day in office.

He said that the message he had got was that the US valued India as a partner, that it wanted to work on more domains and systemic issues to optimise collaboration. The minister claimed that they did not get into details on trade, a domain that trade teams will handle at the opportunity time. But he added, “For me, the deeper sentiment was that you have your interests, we have ours, we have to harmonise it, and we are very confident we can do it. I didn’t get to a sense of it being a zero sum game. There was a lot of attention on iCET (initiative on critical and emerging technologies), semiconductors and supply chains than the other issue,” he said.

On illegal immigration, which the State Department phrased as irregular migration in contrast to how the Republican political set up phrases the issue, the tone once again was not recriminatory but indicative of a desire to work together.

When the two leaders came out for a photo, on the seventh floor of the State Department building, in front of India and US flags, Rubio and Jaishankar did not answer questions. But the timing of the meeting, the hints from the statement, and subsequent ministerial remarks indicate that ties between India and the US are likely to deepen even as both find ways to deal with the more challenging issues discreetly.

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