Rubio arrived in India on Saturday ahead of next week’s Quad ministerial meeting, a step that is expected to shape U.S. engagement with the governments of India, Australia and Japan as the Indo-Pacific alliance prepares for discussions that include security concerns tied to China. The U.S. Secretary of State’s first official trip to India comes as Washington seeks to stabilize relations with New Delhi after ties soured over President Donald Trump’s tariff policies that raised duties on several Indian exports.
Rubio began his visit in Kolkata, arriving early Saturday, where he is scheduled to visit the Missionaries of Charity’s “Mother House,” the headquarters of the order founded by Mother Teresa. Over the next several days, he is also set to travel to Agra and Jaipur, with the trip described as combining diplomatic meetings with a multi-city itinerary.
In New Delhi, Rubio is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later Saturday, U.S. Ambassador Sergio Gor said in a social media post. Gor wrote that the discussions would cover trade, technology, defense, the Quad and “many other items,” as well as “over the next few days.”
Rubio also plans a bilateral meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Sunday, according to the schedule described as part of the visit. The diplomatic agenda pairs those meetings with an official event in the Indian capital marking the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.
Tuesday’s Quad ministerial meeting in New Delhi will bring Rubio together with his counterparts from India, Australia and Japan, with the group repeatedly calling out what it describes as China’s increased military posture in the South China Sea and its push for maritime territorial claims. In response, Beijing has said its military activity is defensive and framed the Quad as an effort to contain China’s economic growth and influence.
The visit comes after Rubio’s inauguration in January, when his first formal international engagement was meeting with the foreign ministers of the other Quad countries, both jointly and in separate sessions, signaling that the Quad agenda is already central to his approach to foreign policy.