MUMBAI — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the United States and India were "very, very close" to a trade agreement, after talks in Mumbai with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

The comments point to a possible end to months of stalled negotiations. Indian goods have faced higher US tariffs since August last year, and New Delhi wants a final rate that lets its exporters compete with rival manufacturing hubs.

Rubio said the two sides were "about as close as you can be without having executed the agreement," according to The Associated Press. He said a "small number of items" still had to be settled and that this "will happen shortly."

Rubio said the State Department had been closely involved in the negotiations, although trade officials were leading them, the Press Trust of India reported. He called the strategic alignment between the two countries on core issues "extraordinary" while accepting that they would not agree on everything.

Rubio and Jaishankar were also joined by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, for a three-way meeting in the city.

Rubio said the trilateral talks were meant to cover "regional energy security" and to advance "our shared economic priorities." Jaishankar described the session on X as "A useful exchange of perspectives on energy, connectivity and contemporary developments."

The National, an Abu Dhabi newspaper, reported that the ministers also discussed trade and investment, technology and artificial intelligence, and security and stability in the region. Reem Al Hashimy, the UAE Minister of State for International Co-operation, attended with Sheikh Abdullah, who said the Emirates' strategic relationships with both countries were continuing to grow, according to the newspaper.

The US ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, wrote on X that the three ministers had met to discuss turning "our close ties into concrete results."

India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Gor attended the separate bilateral session, according to the news agency ANI. Jaishankar said he and Rubio had focused on "trade, energy, technology, defence and people-to-people ties." Rubio said they discussed energy security and defence cooperation and reaffirmed the strategic partnership. India's foreign ministry said the two sides had reviewed the full range of relations.

Energy was a recurring theme of the visit. Business Standard reported that Rubio described India as a refining superpower and said he had raised the prospect of India buying more American oil. He also signalled that Washington wanted more Venezuelan crude processed at Reliance Industries' refinery in Jamnagar, Gujarat.

Rubio said India had made substantial progress in diversifying its oil purchases and called the shift sensible, according to the newspaper. Before leaving the United States on Saturday, he had said India still bought substantial amounts of Russian oil and that changing suppliers quickly was difficult, the AP reported.

India's purchases of discounted Russian crude since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022 have at times strained relations with Washington. The Federal, an Indian news site, reported that the United States has paused potential sanctions over those purchases, and that Rubio acknowledged progress on the trade deal was among the factors weighed.

Trade talks broke down last year, and in August 2025 Washington imposed tariffs of up to 50% on most Indian goods. A framework agreed in February this year cut the rate to 18%, but negotiations then stalled over the tariffs and the oil question.

Indian officials have sounded mixed in recent weeks. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said earlier this month that the talks had "plateaued." Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said last week that the first tranche of a deal was in its final stages.

New Delhi has said its final tariff rate should be comparable with those of competing manufacturing countries such as Vietnam. President Donald Trump, speaking in Washington, said the two countries were "pretty close" to a deal, The National reported. "They want to make a deal. We're going to make a deal," he said, adding that it "could be a much different kind of deal" without giving details.

Rubio's programme in Mumbai also included laying a wreath at the memorial inside the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel to the victims of the November 2008 attacks, which killed 166 people, six of them Americans. He attended a reception hosted by Gor to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States.

The visit, which runs from October 20 to 21, is Rubio's second to India in five months and follows a stop in Uzbekistan. On Wednesday he is due to meet Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani and Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran before flying to Jamnagar to tour the Reliance refinery, the world's largest refining complex.