US Secretary of State Visits India: Energy, Trade and the Strategic Partnership Under Strain
The US Secretary of State began a visit to Asia (17 to 22 October 2026). The first stop was Samarkand in Uzbekistan for the C5+1 meeting with the five Central Asian countries. The next stops were Mumbai and Jamnagar in India.
In Mumbai, the US Secretary of State is to hold talks with India's External Affairs Minister. India's Ministry of External Affairs said the agenda covers energy, trade and investment, defence, and critical and emerging technologies.
In Jamnagar (Gujarat), the visit includes a tour of Reliance Industries' refinery, which the company describes as the world's largest single-site refinery (about 1.4 million barrels of crude oil a day).
Before leaving, the US Secretary of State called India "an important ally and partner". He also said India has diversified its energy sources on its own, but still depends a lot on Russian energy because switching suppliers quickly is hard.
The visit came just after the US President waived (suspended) the tariff provisions of a new US law, the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act. That law allowed tariffs of up to 100% on goods from the top five buyers of Russian oil and gas, a group that includes India.
The trip also comes at a tense time for trade. The US placed a 50% tariff on most Indian goods in August 2025; a framework agreed in February 2026 brought it down to 18%, but talks on a full trade deal have slowed.
India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership (CGSP)
The India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership is the official label for the overall relationship between the two countries. It means India and the US work together on almost everything: defence, trade, technology, energy, space, health and education, and also on global issues like a free and open Indo-Pacific. The relationship moved from distance during the Cold War to close partnership after 2000. A "strategic partnership" is a long-term, high-trust relationship, but it is not a military alliance: neither side is bound to fight for the other.
The US Secretary of State's visit, with energy, trade, defence and technology on the agenda, is the partnership working through its main pillars. Calling India "an important ally and partner" while a Russia-related tariff threat hangs over it shows both the strength of the relationship and its biggest current stress point.
India's Energy Security and Import Dependence
Energy security means a country can always get the energy it needs, at a price it can afford. For India, the biggest part of this problem is oil, because India buys almost nine out of every ten barrels of crude oil it uses from abroad. So a war, sanctions or a price jump far away quickly hits petrol prices, inflation and the rupee at home. India's main answer is to buy from many suppliers so that no single country or route can hurt it badly.
The US Secretary of State's own remark, that India has diversified but still relies heavily on Russian energy, describes India's energy security challenge exactly. The Jamnagar visit and the talks on energy show that the US wants a bigger share of India's oil and gas purchases.
C5+1 Format: The US-Central Asia Diplomatic Platform
The C5+1 is a meeting format in which the five Central Asian countries ("C5") sit together with the United States ("+1"). The five are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Instead of dealing with each country one by one, the US meets all five together to discuss trade, security, connectivity and energy. It matters because Central Asia sits between Russia, China, Afghanistan and Iran, and is rich in energy and critical minerals.
The US Secretary of State attended the C5+1 meeting in Samarkand just before coming to India. Linking Central Asia and India in one trip shows the US looking at the wider region together, an area where India also has its own India-Central Asia Summit format.
- Visit dates: 17 to 22 October 2026; Samarkand (Uzbekistan), then Mumbai and Jamnagar (India)
- Agenda in Mumbai (as listed by India's Ministry of External Affairs): energy, trade and investment, defence, critical and emerging technologies
- Jamnagar refinery: about 1.4 million barrels per day; described by Reliance as the world's largest single-site refinery
- Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act: signed 18 September 2026; tariffs of up to 100% on the top five buyers of Russian oil and gas; tariff provisions waived on 16 October 2026
- US tariff on Indian goods: 50% from August 2025 (25% base + 25% Russian-oil penalty); cut to 18% under the February 2026 framework
- India's crude import dependence: about 88.7% (2025-26, provisional)
- Russia's share of India's crude imports: about one-third (September 2026)
- India-US relationship: Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership since February 2020; 10-year defence framework signed 31 October 2025
- C5+1: launched 2015 (Samarkand); first leaders' summit September 2023