Rubio Trip Patched US-India Relations, Trump Must Seal Repair

Former senior National Security Council director Lisa Curtis told IANS that Marco Rubio’s India visit applied a short-term bandage to the strains that built up between the United States and India over the past year. While the trip and the accompanying Quad foreign ministers meeting showed continued momentum at the working level, Curtis argued that only President Trump can deliver a comprehensive reset. She listed tariffs, immigration restrictions, and warmer US-Pakistan ties as key irritants that still weigh on Indian thinking. Curtis observed that the absence of a leaders-level Quad summit last year marked the first such gap in five years, leaving partners uncertain about Washington’s priorities. She praised recent steps like the extension of sanctions waivers for Indian purchases of Russian oil, yet cautioned that Trump’s engagement with Xi Jinping may have convinced New Delhi that commercial interests now outweigh strategic competition with China. Curtis urged the president to speak openly and repeatedly about India’s central role in Indo-Pacific strategy. Without such high-level reassurance, she said, doubts will persist despite lower-level diplomacy.