Overview
- Rubio will travel to India from May 23–26 with stops in Kolkata, Agra, Jaipur and New Delhi and will take part in a Quad foreign ministers meeting scheduled for May 26.
- Before the India tour Rubio will attend the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Helsingborg on May 22 and hold bilateral talks with NATO and Arctic partners.
- Rubio publicly said the United States wants to sell India “as much energy as they’ll buy,” and he raised the prospect of cooperation involving Venezuelan crude as part of talks on supply diversification.
- U.S. and Indian officials will focus talks on energy security, trade and defence cooperation, with the Kolkata stop notable as the first U.S. Secretary of State visit there in almost 14 years.
- The trip is framed by disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and higher energy-price risk, and a successful push for U.S. exports could give India more supplier options while shaping broader Quad coordination on maritime security and supply chains.