TOI correspondent from Washington: Revitalized US ties with Islamabad will not be at the expense of Washington’s “deep, historic, and important” ties with India, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said amid what he saw as disquiet in New Delhi about the Trump White House’s pivot towards the military regime in Pakistan. In a chat with pool reporters on his way to the Asean meeting in Malaysia via Doha, Rubio said New Delhi had not directly communicated any unease to the US on the matter “but we know they’re concerned for obvious reasons because of the tensions that have existed between Pakistan and India historically” and “Indians are very mature when it comes to diplomacy and things of that nature.”“Look, they have some relationships with countries that we don’t have relationships with. So, it’s part of a mature, pragmatic foreign policy. I don’t think anything we’re doing with Pakistan comes at the expense of our relationship or friendship with India,” Rubio said, adding that New Delhi has to understand the US will have relations with a lot of different countries, and it currently sees an opportunity to expand its strategic relationship with Pakistan.Rubio’s remarks come at a time US-India relations, long considered a cornerstone of Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy, is under pressure given the trade and tariff tensions with New Delhi and the slack US has cut for China and Pakistan — at India’s expense. Pakistan currently has a 19 per cent tariff on its exports to the US compared to India’s 50 percent. When pressed on whether India might need to reduce its reliance on Russian oil to secure a broader trade deal with the US, Rubio noted that India has already expressed interest in diversifying its oil portfolio. “The more they buy from us, the less they’ll buy from someone else,” he said, suggesting that increased US oil exports could displace India’s purchases from other suppliers, such as Russia. Yet, he avoided committing to specifics on trade negotiations, stating, “I’m not negotiating trade deals, so I’m not going to speak on that.”While Rubio appeared to be echoing the traditionalist State Department outlook that continues to hew to Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy, the Trump White House seems less enthused about it in recent weeks as the US president seeks to engage China, having realized Beijing holds many cards – from its stranglehold on rare earth elements to buying American agricultural produce. He is also transparently in thrall of Pakistan following reports of its pledge to supply rare earths minerals and its interest in crypto business run by family associates, with unvarnished admiration for the country de-facto military ruler, field marshal Asim Munir. Rubio is expected meet his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar in Malaysia to continue the ministerial level dialogue since Prime Minister Modi chose to skip the meet, forgoing a meeting with Trump amid apparent misgivings over his grandstanding, with claims of having “solved” the India-Pakistan war – a four day clash that ended when the Pakistani director general of military ops phoned is Indian counterpart to seek a ceasefire.The state department and the national security council, both now run by Rubio – a former Senator who was once derided as “Little Marco” by Trump when he ran for GOP nomination – has had to finesse its position in line with White House priorities even as a trade agreement with India remains in limbo. According to officials who are clued into the talks, an agreement is almost ready, but it needs to be signed off by the President, and “no one has any idea if it will satisfy him.”
