Seeking to repair ties between — which he described as a “strategic alliance between two countries that have global influence and the ability to influence global events” — visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday addressed New Delhi’s concerns on challenges over the past year — from trade tariffs to visa restrictions and changes in immigration policies to Washington’s close ties with Pakistan’s military leadership.
Rubio underlined that the changes “whether trade tariffs or visa curbs” were not targeted at India, but were being applied globally. Saying that the US was in the process of “modernising” its “migration system”, he said there may be “bumps” during this period of transition, but the “destination” would be a more efficient system. He also said the two sides were “on the verge” of winding up a trade agreement that would be “beneficial to both” and “sustainable”.
Addressing a press conference with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Rubio assured that the bilateral relationship between India and the US continues to be strong and has not lost any momentum. The two ministers held their bilateral meeting on Sunday, a day after Rubio met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“There are only a handful of countries in the world that have both the economic and diplomatic power to be influential on strategic issues from a global perspective, and India is one of them, which is what adds the finishing touches on the importance of the strategic alliance…we have a strategic alliance between the US and India, it’s a strategic alliance between two countries that have global influence and the ability to influence global events, and that distinguishes it from other relationships,” Rubio said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar in New Delhi, Sunday.(AP)
Stating that the Indian government follows a “India First policy” just like the Trump administration’s “America First policy”, Jaishankar, who was calibrated in his comments, stuck to the “strategic partnership” line. “We have a strategic partnership which emanates from a convergence of national interests in many areas,” he said. He outlined issues of defence, energy, nuclear energy, critical minerals and the trade negotiations as part of the bilateral talks, apart from geopolitical issues in West Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
“We discussed the importance of taking into account the Make in India approach and lessons drawn from recent conflicts, while going forward in the defence domain. On the economic front, we spoke about the value of concluding at an early date the final text of the interim agreement regarding reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade,” Jaishankar said.
The two sides discussed strengthening their strategic partnership, with the focus on defence, security and economic cooperation. Key points from the bilateral talks include the renewal of the 10-year major defence partnership framework and the signing of a comprehensive underwater domain awareness roadmap.
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Rubio, who is also the National Security Advisor in the Trump administration, also met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
Visa curbs
Raising the issue of visa curbs faced by Indians, Jaishankar said: “People-to-people ties are at the heart of our relationship. I apprised Secretary Rubio of challenges that legitimate travellers face in respect of visa issuance, while we cooperate to deal with illegal and irregular mobility. Our expectation is that legal mobility would not be adversely impacted as a consequence. After all, this is very relevant to our business, technology, and research cooperation.”
Asked about the impact of the recent curbs on Indians travelling to the US, Rubio acknowledged the contribution that Indians have made to the US economy. “Over $20 billion has been invested in the US economy by Indian companies. We want that number to continue to increase, and obviously the expertise as well that they’ve provided into our economy has been very, very valuable,” he said.
“…The changes that are happening now, or the modernisation of our migration system into the US, is not India-focused. It’s not India-specific. It is global. It’s being applied across the world. We are in a period of modernisation,” he said. “We’ve had a migratory crisis in the US. This is not because of India, but broadly, we had over 20 million people illegally enter the US over the last few years, and we’ve had to address that challenge,” he said.
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“We are modernising the US immigration system for the 21st century, so that it is an immigration system that’s not just good for America, but is also good for the people that are coming… I want to be clear that the changes, while they may be having a disproportionate impact on a place like India that provides so many high-skilled workers to the US economy, it is not a system that is targeted at India, it is one that’s being applied globally. But we’re in a period of transition, and like any period of transition, there’s going to be some bumps on that road, but we think ultimately our destination is going to be a better, more efficient system and more sustainable”.
Responding to questions on racist comments against Indians and Indian-Americans, Rubio said: “Look, I’m sure that there are people that have made comments online and in other places, because every country in the world has stupid people. I’m sure there’s stupid people here. There’s stupid people in the US that make dumb comments all the time. I don’t know what else to tell you, other than the US is a very welcoming country.”
Trade talks
“The US-India relationship has not lost any momentum. I understand why some people might say that… The reality of it is, this is not about India, this is about the US, in terms of trade. The President did not say, ‘Let’s figure out a way to create friction with India over trade’. The President came in and said, ‘We have a trade situation involving the US economy that doesn’t work moving forward. There’s a huge imbalance that’s built up, and it needs to be addressed’. And he pursued it from a global perspective,” Rubio said.
“As Secretary of State, there is virtually no country in the world that I could travel to that isn’t going to raise the issue of trade, because we did this from a global perspective. The President approached it and said we have to rebalance US trade, and one of the reasons why is, again, this is not about India… The US was being de-industrialised, we pursued trade policies that left us in a place where all the means of production had been outsourced in such a way that left us vulnerable. That had to change, and it cost us jobs to create a huge displacement in our country, and that needed to be corrected. There needs to be a rebalancing of how we approach global trade,” he said.
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“The good news is that through this rebalancing, we are ultimately seeking, and believe we will arrive at, trade arrangements around the world that are good for the US, and also for our trade partners, and one of those we hope will be India. In fact, we are on the verge of making that happen. We are hopeful that our trade representative can visit here very soon. We had an Indian delegation in the US, I believe, last week or the week before. We’ve made tremendous progress, and I think we’re going to wind up with a trade agreement between the US and India that’s going to be enduring, and it’s going to be beneficial to both sides and sustainable in a way that addresses this national interest that we have,” he said.
Rubio listed areas of cooperation, including on Pax Silica, an initiative on critical minerals. “This is an area of strategic concern for both sides… In just the last few months, as I said, there’s $20 billion of Indian investment in the US economy, and that number continues to grow, so I think the relationship continues to be strong. In fact, I believe by the end of this administration it will be stronger than it’s ever been. That’s certainly our goal, and that’s certainly what we’re building towards,” he said.
US-Pakistan ties
On the Trump administration’s close ties with Pakistan’s military leadership, Rubio said: “As far as our relations with other countries… we have relations, and we work at the tactical level, for example, and in many other ways, with countries all over the world; so does India. That’s what responsible nation states do. But I don’t view our relation with any country in the world as coming at the expense of our strategic alliance with India.”
He underlined that “India is an important strategic partner… one of our most important strategic partners in the world”.
Hormuz closure
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On Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Rubio said: “This is an international waterway… they don’t own it. It’s an international waterway, and what they are doing now is basically threatening to destroy commercial vessels using an international waterway. That is illegal under any concept of international law that governs us… if we allowed that to become normal, we would be normalising an unacceptable status quo and setting a dangerous precedent that could be replicated here in this region and in multiple places around the world. So, the President has his preference… to find a diplomatic way that these problems can be solved.”
