US Secretary of State Rubio heads to India, energy and trade top agenda

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio departed on Saturday for visits to India and Uzbekistan.

According to the US State Department, he will arrive in India on October 20. In India, he is scheduled to meet senior government officials and business leaders to discuss cooperation on energy, trade, investment, defense and emerging technologies.

The US-India strategic partnership will also be a key topic during the visit.

The trip comes as the Trump administration has taken 60 days to study the impact of a proposed law that could impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on goods coming into the US from countries that are major importers of Russian oil or gas. Such tariffs could affect countries including India that buy fuel from Russia.

Rubio called India an important US partner but said it would be difficult for India to end its reliance on Russian fuel immediately.