Marco Rubio to skip Delhi, visit Mumbai and Jamnagar next week

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to India for his second visit in six months, with energy and trade relations on the top of the agenda as he visits Mumbai and Jamnagar, the U.S. Department of State announced on Wednesday (Octobre 14, 2026).

However, Mr. Rubio, who is expected to visit India from October 19 to 22 after travelling to Samarkand in Uzbekistan for a regional conference, will skip Delhi. 

“[Mr. Rubio] will meet with senior government officials to strengthen the U.S.-India strategic partnership, exchange views on regional and global dynamics, and discuss prospects for enhanced energy cooperation,” the State department said in the statement, adding that Mr. Rubio will also meet business leaders to “promote investment opportunities”. 

Mr. Rubio’s scheduled visit to Jamnagar is important as it hosts the world’s largest single-site refinery, operated by Reliance industries, and is expected to include a major reception hosted by the Ambani family. The Jamnagar refinery is one of the top three companies refining Russian Ural crude oil, although it has reduced its share of the imports. The visit would follow just a day after U.S. President Donald Trump is mandated by the U.S. Congress to propose extra tariffs as sanctions on India and other countries buying Russian oil, under the Sanctions Against Russian and Iran Act (SRIA) passed into law last month.

In March 2026, Mr. Trump announced that Reliance Industries would invest in a refinery in Brownsville, Texas, although details of the exact collaboration have still not been released.

The U.S. Secretary of State is expected to meet External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar during the visit, but the Ministry of External Affairs didn’t confirm the visit or answer questions on why Mr. Rubio is skipping Delhi on this visit.

Asked about the U.S. statement on the trip, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the government would make the announcement “at the appropriate time as to what will be the issues to be taken up”. He also said that the government would disclose details of the visit “as and when they happen”. To another question, he said that India had already conveyed its concerns over the SRIA to the U.S. government. 

Tension in ties

The visit by Mr. Rubio comes at a time of tensions in the India-U.S. economic relationship for a number of other reasons as well. Senior officials and Ministers on both sides have acknowledged there is trouble in the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman saying that the talks last week had “plateaued”.  

The U.S.-India ties were dealt another blow last week as the Trump administration suspended permission for five Indian tech outsourcing companies to certify Indian professionals as eligible for green cards or permanent residency. The visit would also come just ahead of the key mid-term elections in the U.S., where Mr. Trump’s Republican Party is expected to face losses.

Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are due to meet nonetheless on December 13, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Florida, and possibly in November at the ASEAN linked summits in Manila. Both leaders spoke over the telephone on September 30.

In Kolkata on Monday for celebrations of the U.S.’s 250th Independence day anniversary, U.S. Ambassador to India and the region Sergio Gor indicated to journalists that more engagements would be announced soon, saying “stay tuned for what comes next.” Mr. Rubio last visited Delhi in May 2026 to attend the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting.