US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is on a two-day visit to India, sought to assuage New Delhi’s concerns regarding the Donald Trump administration’s tariffs and US visa restrictions, saying the moves are not meant to “punish India” or are “targeted” at any country.
Pointing to the waiver announced by President Trump last week, Rubio said, “None of these tariffs are meant to punish or harm India. “I think we’re incredibly close . The way I would say it is, we are weeks, not months, away from, I think, finalising it. They are part of a broader foreign policy that, unfortunately, involves a war going on between Russia and Ukraine that we would like to see come to an end. “And I’m sure you saw it in our media and our political system (that), when the President issued those waivers and did not impose the tariffs required under a law passed by our Congress, he got criticism for doing it. Both sides engaged in detailed deliberations spanning key strategic sectors, including trade, defence, technology, and energy security.
Because he understands that it would have a very detrimental impact on a very important relationship with India,” he added, but one of the reasons why he didn’t impose them is. I think 99 per cent of the work is done… Rubio is on an official visit to India from October 20 to 21 at the invitation of Foreign Minister S Jaishankar , marking his second visit to the country following an earlier trip to New Delhi in May.
I feel very positive of the trajectory that it’s on,” he said. When asked about the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, which comes off as antagonistic towards Indians, the US leader said the measures were “not targeted” at any nation.
