MUMBAI, India (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held talks with India's foreign minister in Mumbai on Tuesday as the two countries seek to deepen energy cooperation and move closer to finalizing a trade deal.
India and the United States seek to revive trade negotiations stalled for months by tensions over American tariffs and the Indian government's purchases of Russian oil.
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, second left, and US ambassador to India Sergio Gor, right, pose for a photo at the Gateway of India in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (Kylie Cooper/Pool Photo via AP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, second left, and US ambassador to India Sergio Gor, right, pose for a photo at the Gateway of India in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (Kylie Cooper/Pool Photo via AP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media upon his arrival at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (Kylie Cooper/Pool Photo via AP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center left, shakes hands with India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, center right, before their meeting in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (Kylie Cooper/Pool Photo via AP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, shakes hands with India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, right, before their meeting in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (Kylie Cooper/Pool Photo via AP)
“We’re very, very close. I would say we’re about as close as you can be without having executed the agreement,” Rubio told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday. “I think there’s a small number of items left to wrap up, so I think that will happen shortly.”
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that they discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties in trade, energy, technology and defense, along with talks on regional developments.
Jaishankar and Rubio also held a trilateral meeting with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who also was visiting India. Rubio said that the three officials met to discuss “regional energy security and advance our shared economic priorities.”
Washington imposed tariffs of up to 50% on most Indian goods in August 2025 after trade talks broke down. Under a framework agreed upon in February, the tariff rate was reduced to 18%, but the negotiations have since stalled.
Earlier this month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the talks had “plateaued.” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, however, said last week that the first tranche of a trade deal was in its final stages.
India says its final tariff rate should be similar to those of competing manufacturing countries such as Vietnam.
India’s purchases of discounted Russian crude since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022 have strained ties with the United States at times. The Indian government has said that it would expand energy imports, including from the U.S., while diversifying suppliers to maintain market stability and keep prices affordable.
Despite tensions, the two countries continue to deepen defense and technology ties, with Washington viewing India as a key counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific.
Rubio's visit to India follows a trip to Uzbekistan this week to promote trade and ties with Central Asia.
Rubio told reporters in the United States on Saturday before his departure that India had diversified its energy sources, but continued to buy substantial volumes of Russian oil, making an immediate shift to other suppliers difficult.
“You’ve got countries like India, for example, that have voluntarily diversified their energy portfolio, but are still getting a substantial amount of energy from Russia because it’s hard to pivot from one day to the next,” he said. “But they’re also an important ally and partner of the United States.”
Rubio is scheduled to visit a refinery in the city of Jamnagar in Gujarat state on Wednesday and meet with business leaders, according to the U.S. State Department.
The Jamnagar facility, operated by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, is the world’s largest refining complex. In March, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the company was investing $300 billion to set up an oil refinery in Brownsville, Texas.
Rubio last visited India in May.
A previous version of this story was corrected to show that Rubio's comments on India diversifying its energy portfolio were made on Saturday while he was still in the U.S., not on Sunday in Uzbekistan.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, second left, and US ambassador to India Sergio Gor, right, pose for a photo at the Gateway of India in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (Kylie Cooper/Pool Photo via AP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media upon his arrival at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (Kylie Cooper/Pool Photo via AP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center left, shakes hands with India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, center right, before their meeting in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (Kylie Cooper/Pool Photo via AP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, shakes hands with India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, right, before their meeting in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (Kylie Cooper/Pool Photo via AP)
An Israeli attack on an apartment in Gaza killed two people and wounded others. The Israeli military said it had targeted a Hamas militant.
In southern Yemen, the death toll from a missile strike by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on a government training camp rose to 73.
Britain said it would expand its military support to defend Saudi Arabia against Houthi attacks. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested during a call with U.S. President Donald Trump that their two countries could launch new attacks on Iran.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Tuesday. Read our full coverage here.
Israel's military struck an apartment in Gaza before dawn, killing two people and wounding others. The victims were a husband and wife, according to Shifa Hospital. The Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas militant.
The attack followed strikes on Monday that killed at least four people.
More than 1,500 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israel since the ceasefire agreed last year by Israel and Hamas, according to the territory’s health ministry. The ministry maintains detailed records and is regarded as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll but says women and children account for nearly half of those killed.
Britain said it is expanding military support for Saudi Arabia against the Houthis to include “defensive” air patrols by Royal Air Force jets.
Defense Secretary Wes Streeting said RAF Typhoon jets would “conduct defensive counter-air operations over Saudi Arabia, helping to protect Saudi cities, civilian populations and critical national infrastructure from Houthi attack.”
He said the British planes would not strike Houthi targets.
The U.K. will also send a military transport and an unspecified number of military advisers to Saudi Arabia, Streeting said.
The announcement follows Britain’s decision last month to offer in-air refueling of Saudi planes operating against the Iran-backed rebels. That mission is being extended by another 90 days, Streeting said.
A senior Yemeni official says the death toll from a Houthi missile strike on a government military camp in southern Yemen has increased to 73 people.
The recruits were all aged between 18 and 20, and some were still missing a day after the Iranian-backed rebels hit the al-Alam training camp in the southern province of Shabwa with ballistic missiles, Shabwa governor Awad Ibn al-Wazir told The Associated Press.
Monday’s strike was part of a recent surge of fighting in Yemen, which started when forces from the internationally-recognized government and Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes on Houthi-held Sanaa International Airport in July, shattering a 2022 ceasefire deal that largely stopped fighting in the country’s civil war.
The strike also wounded more than 200 other recruits, the governor said.
The Shabwa provincial government said in a statement Monday that the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles on the camp. The Houthis claimed the attack, saying they had killed and wounded dozens but did not provide further details.
— By Samy Magdy in Cairo
A senior Qatari official says Israeli leaders are not committed to a negotiated end to the war in Gaza and are instead focused only on “war and death and destruction” in the lead up to Israel’s first national elections since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
“Sadly, right now we do not have a partner for peace in Israel,” said Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar's Foreign Ministry and adviser to the Qatari prime minister, speaking to The Associated Press on stage at the Global Security Forum in Doha.
Al-Ansari said: “You look at all the statements coming out from all the political parties and all the political candidates right now in the elections. Does any of them even talk about peace with Palestinians? Does any of them even talk about stability of the region?”
— By Victoria Eastwood in Doha
Netanyahu suggested that Israel and the United States could launch new attacks on Iran in a video he posted of a call with Trump.
During the call, Netanyahu thanked Trump for his endorsement, which came about a week before Israel’s national elections. Netanyahu faces a tight reelection race widely viewed as a referendum on his leadership before and after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack and through a series of inconclusive wars, including with Iran.
“Donald, we have a job to finish. You said it, and we’ll finish it together. We’ll finish it, and no one else will do it,” Netanyahu said in the video. Trump could be heard on speakerphone.
Turkey’s parliament has been asked to ratify the government's mutual defense agreement with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, state media reported, moving the country closer to a commitment to meet Riyadh’s defense needs.
The agreement, signed in August, will be reviewed by a parliamentary committee before going to a vote in the full parliament. Its full text has not been made public.
Officials have said Turkey is considering providing military support to Saudi Arabia under the deal but have ruled out sending combat troops.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
Palestinians inspect the damage to an apartment building struck by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians inspect the damage to an apartment building struck by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Relatives mourn over the body of Dina Yassin, who was killed alongside her husband in an Israeli army strike on an apartment in Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Dima Yassin mourns over the body of her mother, Dina Yassin, during the funeral of her parents, who were killed in an Israeli army strike on an apartment in Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Dima Yassin mourns over the body of her mother, Dina Yassin, during the funeral of her parents, who were killed in an Israeli army strike on an apartment in Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
