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With Rubio visit India asks how it fits in Trump worldview

In the backdrop to Rubio's visit lies a question—how does India, long courted by the United States, figure in the norms-shattering and highly personalized worldview of President Donald Trump?

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 13, 2025. / REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo/File Photo

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio heads to India this weekend doing something he has not done yet -- a multi-city tour of a country where he will seek to build ties beyond government meetings in the capital.

But in the backdrop to Rubio's visit lies a question—how does India, long courted by the United States, figure in the norms-shattering and highly personalized worldview of President Donald Trump?

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Since the late 1990s, US presidents across party lines have put a top priority on wooing India, overlooking disagreements out of a conviction, believed firmly if stated discreetly, that the world's largest democracy would serve as an ideal counterweight to a rising China.

Trump has shifted that playbook, hailing the reception he received last week on a state visit to China, despite limited tangible outcomes, and previously slapping punitive tariffs on India.

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