New US ambassador to India pushes for deeper trade ties despite tension over Russian oil

NEW DELHI (AP) — The U.S. and India are actively engaged on a bilateral trade agreement to deepen economic and strategic partnership, the U.S. ambassador-designate to New Delhi said Monday.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India has emerged as the second biggest buyer of Russian crude after China, upsetting the Trump administration, which criticized the purchases as helping fuel Moscow’s war machine.

In August, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, bringing the combined tariffs imposed by the United States to a steep 50%.

A close aide of Trump, the new ambassador-designate, Sergio Gor, said the next call between the two sides on trade-related matters was scheduled Tuesday.

“Real friends can disagree, but always resolve their differences in the end,” Gor said in an address on his first day in office at the U.S. Embassy. “Remember India is the world’s largest nation so it’s not an easy task to get this across the finish line, but we are determined to get there.”

Gor, who is also the U.S. special envoy to South and Central Asia, announced that India will be formally invited next month to join a U.S.-led strategic initiative called Pax Silica as part of a broader partnership.

The initiative aims to build a secure silicon supply chain, from critical minerals and energy inputs to advanced manufacturing, semiconductors and artificial intelligence. Nations that joined it last month include Japan, South Korea, U.K. and Israel.

Gor’s comments on bolstering trade and economic ties with India highlights a renewed push to anchor the partnership at a time the relationship has strained following Washington’s mounting pressure on New Delhi to stop buying discounted Russian crude oil.

India and the U.S. have been negotiating a bilateral trade agreement since early last year. They hoped to conclude the first tranche by the fall of 2025, but it hasn’t come through mainly due to differences over sourcing of Russian oil, and Indian negotiators facing pressure to protect small farmers and domestic industries.

Gor said trade was an important aspect of the relationship, but the countries will also continue to work closely in areas such as security, counter terrorism, energy, technology, education and health.

In the face of steep U.S. tariffs, India has in recent months accelerated a push to finalize several free trade agreements. It signed one with Oman last month and concluded talks with New Zealand.

U.S. Ambassador-designate to India Sergio Gor speaks to embassy officials and media upon his arrival at the embassy in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

U.S. Ambassador-designate to India Sergio Gor speaks to embassy officials and media upon his arrival at the embassy in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

U.S. Ambassador-designate to India Sergio Gor speaks to embassy officials and media upon his arrival at the embassy in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

U.S. Ambassador-designate to India Sergio Gor, fifth left, front row facing the camera, meets embassy officials upon his arrival at the embassy in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

U.S. Ambassador-designate to India Sergio Gor speaks to embassy officials and media upon his arrival at the embassy in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

HAVANA (AP) — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Monday that his administration is currently not in talks with the U.S. government, a day after President Donald Trump threatened the Caribbean island in the wake of the U.S. attack on Venezuela.

Díaz-Canel posted a flurry of brief statements on X after Trump suggested that Cuba “make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not say what kind of deal.

Díaz-Canel wrote that for “relations between the U.S. and Cuba to progress, they must be based on international law rather than hostility, threats, and economic coercion.”

He added: “We have always been willing to hold a serious and responsible dialogue with the various US governments, including the current one, on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual respect, principles of International Law, and mutual benefit without interference in internal affairs and with full respect for our independence."

His statements were reposted by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on X.

On Sunday, Trump wrote that Cuba would no longer live off oil and money from Venezuela, which the U.S. attacked on Jan. 3 in a stunning operation that killed 32 Cuban officers and led to the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro.

Cuba was receiving an estimated 35,000 barrels a day from Venezuela before the U.S. attacked, along with some 5,500 barrels daily from Mexico and roughly 7,500 from Russia, according to Jorge Piñón of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, who tracks the shipments.

The situation between the U.S. and Cuba is “very sad and concerning,” said Andy S. Gómez, retired dean of the School of International Studies and senior fellow in Cuban Studies at the University of Miami.

He said he sees Díaz-Canel’s latest comments “as a way to try and buy a little bit of time for the inner circle to decide what steps it’s going to take.”

Gómez said he doesn’t visualize Cuba reaching out to U.S. officials right now.

“They had every opportunity when President (Barack) Obama opened up U.S. diplomatic relations, and yet they didn’t even bring Cuban coffee to the table,” Gómez said. “Of course, these are desperate times for Cuba.”

Michael Galant, senior research and outreach associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C., said he believes Cuba might be willing to negotiate.

“Cuba has been interested in finding ways to ease sanctions,” he said. “It's not that Cuba is uncooperative.”

Galant said topics for discussion could include migration and security, adding that he believes Trump is not in a hurry.

“Trump is hoping to deepen the economic crisis on the island, and there are few costs to Trump to try and wait that out,” he said. “I don’t think it’s likely that there will be any dramatic action in the coming days because there is no rush to come to the table.”

Cuba's president stressed on X that “there are no talks with the U.S. government, except for technical contacts in the area of ​​migration.”

The island’s communist government has said U.S. sanctions cost the country more than $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025.

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Cuban flag flies at half-mast at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)