External affairs minister S. Jaishankar on Sunday asserted a “very significant uptick” in India’s energy imports from the US this year, saying this was part of the
government’s efforts to diversify energy sourcing to reduce the risk to supplies.

Addressing a joint media conference here with visiting US secretary of state Marco
Rubio, Jaishankar said the US had emerged as a significant and reliable source of energy for India.

“For our energy security, it is important we have multiple sources, dependable sources, large sources and cheap sources. The US fits the bill in respects, so do others…. We will continue to pursue multiple sources.”

The external affairs ministry had not been this forthright till now in acknowledging India’s energy purchases from the US, particularly in the backdrop of
President Donald Trump’s repeated claims about India agreeing to cut back on Russian oil and buying more American crude.

Asked about India’s energy sourcing from the US, Jaishankar said: “There’s been actually a very significant uptick in our energy imports from the United States. It’s not new; it started many, many years ago, but I think it’s really picked up in the last year.

“…It is an era of de-risking, and energy, more than anything else, requires de-risking. A big country, if you have to do de-risking, looks at multiple sourcing. And, for us the United States has emerged as a very significant and reliable source of energy, as indeed have some other countries.”

As for the Quad and the general perception in India that the India-US relationship has lost the momentum of the past two decades, both Jaishankar and Rubio insisted that Washington was still invested in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.

Indian could not host the leaders’ summit last year in the wake of strained relations with the Trump administration over trade.

Rubio insisted that the issues New Delhi and Washington had had over trade for the past year were not India-specific. “The US-India relationship has not lost any momentum.”

On the issues around trade, he said: “It is not about India…. The President did not say, ‘Let’s create friction with India over trade’.”

Rubio said Trump wanted to address the huge imbalance in US trade with many countries that had led to America becoming de-industrialised. He added that rebalancing with a country of India’s size was a complex exercise. Still, Rubio was confident about the two countries ironing out their issues. Highlighting the ongoing discussions, he said: “I believe by the end of this administration, the relationship will be stronger than it has ever been… that’s our goal.”

On the Quad, Jaishankar underscored that the grouping of maritime democracies in its current form was started during the first term of the Trump administration.

He stressed that the first time he had met Rubio as secretary of state was in the Quad format, soon after the second Trump administration had assumed office.

Asked about India’s concern over the US engaging with Pakistan — particularly its military leadership, which has links to terrorism and regional instability — Rubio said: “We work at a tactical level with countries all over and so does India.”

He added that America’s relationship with other countries would not come in the way of the India-US strategic partnership.

About the talks, Jaishankar said: “On the economic front, we spoke about the value of concluding at an early date the final text of the interim agreement regarding reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade.

“This will be an important step towards a comprehensive Bilateral Trade Agreement which was envisaged during Prime Minister Modi’s US visit last year. We had a team recently in Washington and our expectation is that an American team will be visiting India soon for that purpose.”

About cooperation in the nuclear field, the minister said he had flagged some regulatory issues that India has had with the American side.

On regional issues, Jaishankar reaffirmed India’s advocacy of dialogue and diplomacy to address conflicts, besides calling for safe and unimpeded maritime commerce and “scrupulous respect for international law”.

He stressed that India was against the weaponisation of market shares and resources, and expected trusted partnerships and resilient supply chains to de-risk the global economy.