S Jaishankar had a meeting with his Marco Rubio on the sidelines of Asean in Manila, focusing on issues related to trade and tariffs along with the critical minerals partnership. According to a US readout, they agreed on the importance of finalising the interim trade deal, which is “almost complete”. They also discussed finalising key defence agreements to fulfil commitments made between President Donald Trump and PM Narendra Modi. “Our relationship with India is vitally important,” said Rubio on X.The US ambassador to India said Rubio may visit this year. Jaishankar said the meet focused on priority areas for India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.In a meeting with his Russia counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, Jaishankar reiterated India’s strong concerns about the safety of Indian seafarers. He said they also discussed trade, energy and science.
