Jaishankar Meets US Counterpart Rubio for First Talks Following Trump’s Tariff Move on India

It was the Jaishankar Rubio meeting between the two since the US President Donald Trump imposed new 50% tariffs on Indian imports.

“Pleased to meet with @SecRubio this morning in KL. Good to US India trade talks about our bilateral relationship as well as regional and global issues,” Rubio said in a post on X.

Jaishankar diplomacy updates ASEAN chair and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim a day before, during which he also extended Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s best wishes for a successful summit. “Honoured to meet Prime Minister @anwaribrahim of Malaysia. Conveyed the best wishes of Prime Minister @narendramodi for a successful ASEAN Summit,” Jaishankar said on social media, along with photographs from the meeting.

The meeting with Rubio comes at a time of simmering trade tensions between India US relations 2025. Earlier this month, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said India will not be in a hurry to sign trade agreements, nor would it be a nation to “agree to terms that hurt our interests” or “give up space in our policies”.

“India will not compromise on our principles when it comes to trade. India’s approach to trade Trump India tariff news negotiations has always been guided by a desire to create long-term partnerships and sustainable business models and not short-term markets or transactions,” Goyal said.

He underlined that this was why India was “not in a hurry to sign agreements” and had said that its focus was on “building long-term trust” and cooperation. “It’s not just short-term deals like we would want steel to be exported to the US. It is more about long-term trust-building and long-term cooperation that we are after,” he had said.

In his address at the 13th UAE-India High-Level Joint Task Force on Investments in Abu Dhabi, Goyal also said that talks between his office and the US Assistant USTR were “constructive and moving in the right direction.”