Did domestic pressure make Rubio visit an Indian port town?

Did domestic pressure prompt Rubio’s trip to an Indian port town?

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in India this week.

The western Indian port town of Jamnagar is not a typical destination for foreign leaders, yet it played a major role in US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent visit.

So why did Rubio go there? And, more importantly, why did he avoid the Indian capital, Delhi?

The answer to both questions may have less to do with India and more to do with the Donald Trump administration’s domestic pressures — or, more specifically, its domestic oil needs.

Rubio arrived in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, on Tuesday, where he met Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and several of the country’s leading business figures. He formally wrapped up his trip in Jamnagar, in the western state of Gujarat, home to the massive oil refinery owned by one of Asia’s richest men, Mukesh Ambani.

It was his second visit to the country this year, and experts say the key point this time is not just the timing but also the destinations he chose.

The Trump administration is under pressure to keep fuel prices under control ahead of November’s US midterm elections, while escalating tensions in the Middle East are threatening global energy supplies.

With little new refining capacity expected soon in the US, India’s ability to process huge quantities of crude oil gives Washington a possible way to ease pressure on fuel markets.

That places Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery at the heart of the issue.

The trip, however, comes at a delicate time in India-US relations. Trump has imposed tariffs on Indian goods, sanctions remain in place against Delhi over its purchases of Russian energy, though they are currently paused, and a trade agreement between the two countries has remained out of reach for about 20 months.

When announcing the visit, the US State Department had said it would concentrate on energy cooperation, commercial investment and economic ties.

The official schedule also left out Delhi, which prompted questions, especially from Indian opposition politicians. But analysts say the decision was deliberate.

“Delhi is where the trust gap is largest. Officials there are unhappy with a number of decisions and policies from Trump’s administration,” Michael Kugelman, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told the BBC.

Former Indian ambassador to the US Meera Shankar, however, warns against reading too much into the capital being skipped.

“This was primarily an energy-focused visit,” she says. “And after all, Rubio did meet the foreign minister in Mumbai.”

The two foreign ministers met at the Taj Hotel and discussed trade, investment, energy security and defence cooperation, according to official statements. India’s foreign ministry also said both sides welcomed progress in trade talks and reaffirmed their commitment to concluding a deal that has been under discussion for a long time.

But once the diplomatic meetings were done, Rubio travelled to Jamnagar, where the crown jewel of the Ambani business empire is located. That became the defining feature of the trip.

Shankar says the refinery visit “showed how much importance the US is attaching to getting more refined fuel into the market before the November midterms”.

According to the company website, Reliance’s Jamnagar complex can process about 1.4 million barrels of crude oil a day, or roughly 1.5% of global refining capacity.

It is also a major exporter of diesel and other petroleum products, giving it an important place in global fuel markets.

During a tightly controlled visit on Wednesday, with limited media access, Rubio toured the facility and met members of the Ambani family, including Mukesh Ambani.

The company later issued a statement saying, “the visit included wide-ranging discussions on the global energy landscape and opportunities for commercial partnerships across conventional and new energy”. It did not, however, specifically mention any commitments to buy crude oil or supply refined products.

Just a day earlier, speaking to the press, Rubio had described India as a “refining superpower” and said the US wanted Reliance to process more Venezuelan oil.

“They have the capability to refine heavy crude. They’ve done so in the past, and I think as more and more Venezuelan oil comes online, that’s something they could do,” he told reporters.

Rubio added that oil from Venezuela “can certainly provide relief” in the short term and could help ease supply pressures amid tensions in the Middle East.

Reliance was once among the biggest buyers of Venezuelan crude before US sanctions disrupted trade. After Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured in a US intervention earlier this year and Washington eased sanctions on the country’s energy sector, Reliance re-emerged as a major importer.

Experts also say the visit could help reduce some of the strain in Delhi-Washington ties over India’s purchases of Russian oil.

India has become one of the largest buyers of Russian oil since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Between December 2022 and July 2026, it accounted for 37% of Russia’s crude oil exports, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

Reliance was among the Indian companies that processed Russian crude.

In August 2025, US President Donald Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods over its Russian oil purchases, bringing total tariffs on many Indian goods to 50%. The US, however, removed the extra penalty in February 2026, but India’s imports of Russian oil have continued to irritate Washington-Delhi relations.

India has consistently said that ensuring affordable and reliable energy for its 1.4 billion people is its priority.

Then earlier this month, the US itself temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian diesel.

Against that backdrop, experts say Rubio’s Jamnagar visit fits three goals the US appears to be pursuing: reducing India’s reliance on Russian crude, encouraging greater imports of Venezuelan and American oil, and advancing a trade deal in which energy cooperation could become a major area of agreement.

There is also another possible business motive behind the push.

Kugelman says Rubio had two reasons to meet the Ambani family. First, to secure more refining of Venezuelan oil, and second, to seek assurances that Reliance still wanted to support a proposed Texas refinery.

In March, Trump announced a proposed refinery at the Port of Brownsville in Texas on his Truth Social platform. He said it would be the first major new refinery in the US in 50 years.

Reliance has not commented publicly on it, and there are no details about the project or when work is expected to begin.

“The Texas facility may not be as immediately important to US interests as the arrangement tied to Venezuelan oil, but I still think it’s part of the story,” he says.

Still, analysts say closer cooperation with Reliance and progress on energy security do not necessarily mean a trade deal is close.

“I don’t think anyone really expected a trade deal to be announced at this point, but this trip seems to have helped get the relationship back on track, to the extent that it can, given the significant points of tension that remain,” Kugelman said.

Rajani Sinha, chief economist at credit rating agency CareEdge, told the BBC that deeper cooperation could ease energy security concerns in both countries, help move stalled trade talks forward and “boost trade and sentiment” in India.

Meera Shankar says India may be “waiting for the US to formalise its tariff positions so that we know whether Delhi has a preferential trade deal”.

She adds that, although relations between the two countries have been strained recently, bilateral trade continues to rise.

India’s merchandise exports to the US were $50.81bn between April and September, up 11.1% from the previous year, according to India’s ministry of commerce. Its imports increased to $32.33bn from $25.66bn in the same period. India’s merchandise trade surplus with the US narrowed to $18.48bn from $20.07bn a year earlier.

“The economic relationship remains strong, but a long period of uncertainty could eventually affect it,” Shankar said.

So for now, the visit may have helped put the relationship back on track, but whether that leads to a trade agreement or a lasting change in energy ties remains to be seen.