Jaishankar-Rubio Meeting: Can India Trust The United States?

After months of acrimony between India and the US, Washington seems ready to re-set ties in the beginning of 2026. On Tuesday, foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and secretary of state Marco Rubio had a substantive conversation, discussing trade, critical minerals and nuclear cooperation. Yet the niggling question remains, can India trust the US? It is not just the tariffs but Donald Trump’s pivot towards Pakistan that revives historical memories of the Cold War years, when India and the US were on opposite camps and Islamabad was the favoured nation in the region.

Jaishankar said on X that he has "a good conversation’" while the US described it as "positive."

"Secretary Rubio and Minister Jaishankar discussed ongoing bilateral trade agreement negotiations and their shared interest in strengthening economic cooperation,’’ deputy spokesman Tommy Pigot said in a readout in Washington.

The arrival of Sergio Gor, the new US ambassador-designate, marked a shift in Washington’s attitude and signalled that the Trump administration is now ready to resume high-level engagement with India. He said both sides were engaged in bilateral trade negotiations and invited India to join the US-led Pax Silica supply-chain initiative.

The US is once again emphasising that India is "an important partner"’ to US policy in the Indo-Pacific, though American involvement with other regional players including India’s arch-foe Pakistan, remains intact. Sergio Gor is not just US ambassador to India but is also Trump’s special envoy for South and Central Asian affairs. This includes Pakistan.

Trump in his second term has revived frayed relations with Pakistan and has time and again praised not just the civilian government of Shehbaz Sharif but also Field Marshal Asim Munir. This revives memories of the time when the US backed Pakistan and gave India a short shrift. Those fears came alive again during the short India-Pakistan conflict in May, when Washington, while condemning the Pahalgam massacre, did not point a finger at Pakistan. Later, while Pakistan praised Donald Trump’s role in brokering a ceasefire between the two sub-continental neighbours, India pushed back.

So despite the current moves by the US administration, the mistrust that set in may take time to resolve. Much will also depend on the progress of the bilateral trade negotiations.

Both sides will play hard ball here. The US is keen that India opens up its agricultural sector especially corn, soybean, rice as well as diary. This is a sensitive issue for any Indian political leader. With the majority of India’s rural masses dependent on agriculture and diary, allowing US imports would affect livelihoods, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured Indian farmers that he would never compromise their livelihood.

Negotiations could drag for a while before an agreement can be reached. Meanwhile, India has to deal with a 75 per cent raise in tariffs, if the latest Trump move to slap tariffs doing business with Iran is implemented. Though Indian officials privately maintain that New Delhi will not be affected as its trade with Iran in miniscule, the fact remains that India has been singled out for maximum tariff of 50 per cent.

The path ahead is not easy. While Washington’s gestures point to a reset, India’s experience suggests caution. With Pakistan back in favour, tough trade negotiations ahead and tariff pressures looming, New Delhi is unlikely to take US assurances at face value.