Rubio to Visit Mumbai and Jamnagar Oct. 17-22 as US-India Talks Center on Energy Amid Trade and Russian Oil Friction

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Uzbekistan and India from Oct. 17 to 22, the State Department announced Tuesday, Oct. 13. In India, he will visit Mumbai and Jamnagar.

It will be his second official trip to India this year. In May he attended the Quad Foreign Ministers' meeting hosted by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi.

What the State Department says Rubio will do

The department's media note says 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." He will also meet business leaders to promote commercial investment and economic cooperation.

The trip opens in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, with the C5+1 Ministerial. That forum brings the U.S. together with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Kyrgyz Republic. Rubio will also hold bilateral meetings with senior officials from all five.

A U.S. commercial delegation of more than 200 business leaders will accompany him. The State Department described the aim as "a new era of strengthened commercial cooperation for the United States and Central Asia."

Why Jamnagar

Jamnagar is home to Reliance Industries' refinery, the world's largest single-site facility. It can process 1.4 million barrels of crude oil a day.

In March, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would build its first new refinery in 50 years, with investment from Reliance. Trump said it would be built in Brownsville, Texas, at a cost of $300 billion.

The State Department has not said whether Rubio will discuss that project in Jamnagar.

Friction in the background

The visit comes with U.S.-India relations under strain on several fronts. Officials from both countries indicated earlier this month that efforts to finalize a bilateral trade agreement had halted again after multiple delays.

India has also raised questions about proposed U.S. legislation that would let Trump impose tariffs as high as 100 percent on countries that buy Russian energy. Washington is trying to pressure Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

India cut its purchases of Russian energy briefly in early 2026. Imports have since risen, specifically after disruptions to global energy supplies tied to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Other irritants include Trump's repeated claim that he helped broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, and a military attack on a vessel off Oman that killed three Indian seafarers.

The partnership case

U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor made the argument for the relationship on Monday at an event in Kolkata marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. He called India an important partner and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump had spoken recently.

Gor pointed to defense ties. "In the last two weeks alone, we have conducted exercises involving more than 500 troops at Tarang Shakti. We also had F-35s in Rajasthan for the first time," he said.

He also cited two-way investment in information technology and healthcare, with companies from both countries building production facilities across the border.

The pairing of Mumbai, India's financial center, with Jamnagar, a refining hub, points to where the two economies overlap most: capital and crude. Energy is the stated priority.

The itinerary lists no announced signing or deal. Whether Rubio leaves India with anything on the stalled trade agreement, or any assurance on how Russian crude purchases would be treated under the proposed tariff legislation, is unresolved. The talks begin after the Samarkand stop, within days of the Oct. 17 departure.