You could tell the room at the New Delhi function perked up when a call came in from President Donald Trump. ‘I love the Prime Minister. Modi is great. He’s my friend,’ he said, and then made a point of it: ‘India can count on me 100%.’ With Rubio in India for his own visit, the message was one of moving the needle on US-India relations after some rough patches.
A symbolic call with strategic subtext
Trump was beamed in on a large screen for the occasion, as part of the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence. The US Ambassador put him through and he didn’t hold back, telling those in the room, ‘I love India. We’ve never been closer to India.’ He also made sure to let everyone know he thought highly of Rubio, calling him ‘the greatest.’
There was plenty of warmth in the President’s words, but he also made a case for what we can do together. ‘If they ever need help, they know who to call. They call right here,’ he said. ‘We’re doing well. We have a record economy, a record stock market, and anything India wants again. And I’m a big, big fan of Prime Minister Modi.’
Rubio’s four-day mission: fix strains, widen scope
For his part, Rubio has been in the country for four days to mend fences and open up new avenues for cooperation in defence, trade, energy and the like. He sat down with PM Narendra Modi and S Jaishankar of the External Affairs Ministry. Trump’s comment that the two are ‘never been closer’ was a way of framing this as a fresh start.
The PM’s office says the talks were wide-ranging: from defence and strategic tech to trade, investment, and even education and people-to-people links. Rubio also put the US view on the table when it comes to West Asia. The State Department was blunt about it: Washington ‘will not let Iran hold the global energy market hostage’ and that American energy can be a way for India to diversify its supply.
Security convergence and counter-terror focus
S Jaishankar was on the same page, noting that 'India and the United States have a strong interest in combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.’ His position is one of zero tolerance and he sees working together on this as a must.
Jaishankar put it in context of an ‘era of transition’ we are in, which makes a deeper bond with the US all the more important. He talked about 'mutuality of benefits‘ and de-risking the global economy to give people ‘more choices.’ In his view, where we agree is what makes us solid partners.
What was said and why it matters
Trump’s side of things had an economic ring to it. He pointed to our ‘record economy’ and ‘record stock market’ as the kind of foundation that makes for good collaboration. And he wasn’t shy about his opinion of his Secretary of State: ‘Marco is the greatest. He’s going down as the greatest in the history of the US.’
Here are the key official statements you’ll want to take away:
– You can put your money on the US President 100%.
– A word from the top: PM Modi is a friend; and for Rubio, the praise was no-holds-barred.
– When it comes to terrorism, India and the US will have none of it.
– As for Iran, the US won’t let them make a game of the energy market.
Next steps to watch
It is a time to put some of the past to rest – the visa issues, the deportations, and how Washington has been with Pakistan. In New Delhi, Rubio called it a ‘strategic alliance’ between two countries with a say in the world.
We’ll see where it goes when the Quad Foreign Ministers get together in New Delhi on May 26. But after his meeting with Rubio, Modi said we will ‘continue to work closely for the global good,’ so don’t be surprised if what was put in motion in Delhi starts to show some results in short order.
