Trump Administration Makes India A Priority - 1st Meetings With S Jaishankar

To underline Washington’s commitment to New Delhi as the new Trump administration enters office, US Secretary of State Maro Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Walz hosted their first bilateral and international meetings respectively with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is in Washington on invitation from the US Government to attend Donald Trump's inauguration as the 47th president of the United States. Their first exchange of high-level diplomatic officials — representing the world’s oldest and largest democracies — took place at the US State Department’s Foggy Bottom office. The bilateral met preceded the first Quad ministerial meeting since Donald Trump’s election to the presidency.

Marco Rubio’s choice to hold his first bilateral meeting with India’s S Jaishankar takes on meaning, given that any new US administration’s first foreign visit has typically been to its two neighbours Canada and Mexico, or one of its NATO partners.

The two-way exchange of information between the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Dr Jaishankar comes less than an hour after the former took office. The two leaders embraced extensive talks that spanned the entire spectrum of the India-US strategic alliance. The meeting – which was longer than an hour long – included India’s Ambassador to the US, Vinay Kwatra.

Shortly after that encounter, Secretary Rubio and Dr Jaishankar shared the stage before the international media, holding hands and taking official pictures.

"Hope to see @secrubio for his first bilateral meet since assuming office as Secretary of State. Checked our extensive bilateral collaboration, for which @secrubio has been a tireless supporter. Even shared views on numerous regional and international issues. "I look forward to closely engaging with him to develop our strategic partnership," Dr Jaishankar posted on the social media website X soon after the meeting.

Shortly before the two leaders convened for bilateral talks, they joined their Australian and Japanese counterparts Penny Wong and Iwaya Takeshi for the newly elected Trump administration’s first Quad meeting — the diplomatic and security alliance established by the four countries to restore peace and rule-based navigation in the Indo-Pacific.