Rubio Kicks Off India Visit With Trade Deal, Russian Oil on Agenda

3-line summary

• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began a two-day visit to Mumbai and Jamnagar, India, days after President Trump waived threatened tariffs tied to India's purchases of Russian oil to help finalize a bilateral trade deal; Rubio is meeting Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, whose Jamnagar site houses the world's largest refining complex, after stops in Samarkand, Uzbekistan for Central Asian meetings.
• Officials say a comprehensive US-India trade agreement is "nearly done" and could be signed during the visit, though the report gives no specific terms; Rubio said progress on the trade deal was a factor behind Trump's decision to waive tariff provisions that could have imposed duties of up to 100% on the top five buyers of Russian oil, a list that includes India (second after China) under a law Trump signed in September.
• The waiver drew criticism from lawmakers in both parties who have pushed for pressure on Russia over the Ukraine war; Rubio said India is diversifying its energy sources but still imports millions of barrels of Russian oil daily, and the administration has begun a 60-day review on whether to reimpose tariffs-even as the US separately signed a diesel-import deal with Russia last week to help stabilize domestic fuel prices, muddying the push for India to cut Russian oil purchases.

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