QUESTION: Secretary Rubio, welcome to India.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you.
QUESTION: You’ve spent two days in India now. You’ve met with the prime minister. You’ve met with EM Jaishankar. What can you tell us about these meetings that you held with the prime minister and Jaishankar?
SECRETARY RUBIO: They’re all great. I mean, first of all, this is a great place. I’ve really enjoyed our time, and we’ve only been here for a couple of days. We’ll be here a couple more. So it’s – and I could be here 4 weeks and not see it all. It’s such a big country with so much to show us.
But it’s also a very important strategic relationship. It’s a strategic alliance. We have a lot of alliances around the world, we have a lot of countries we deal with, but we have a handful of really important strategic alliances, and India is one of them. So many areas of overlap that we care about, that India cares about, and that we both have capability to contribute, so it makes sense. And so we’re here really just to continue to build upon that relationship, because in every new era there are new opportunities and new challenges that emerge around the world, and India is one of the countries we work closest with on all of these.
QUESTION: You’ve indicated that Prime Minister Modi will be traveling to the U.S. —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yes.
QUESTION: — this year. We do know for a fact that he might be going at G20. Is that bilateral a different engagement than the G20?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we want it to be a separate one. We wanted to have a standalone visit. Obviously, we look forward to hosting him in December in Florida —
QUESTION: Right.
SECRETARY RUBIO: — after the G20. And – but we’d like to have a meeting in addition to that. He indicated he would come. So obviously, we’ll work through the details on the proper timing, but he was there last year. We’d love to see him come back.
QUESTION: Any timeline (inaudible)? I mean, it could be —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we’d like to see him next week, but I don’t know. That’s probably a little too soon. But as soon as he’s ready to come. He’s a busy guy as well. He’s got a big country to run, and he’s also just came back from an extensive foreign trip. And – but we’ll work out the details of when, but when is not as important. As soon as possible, but that’s – whatever fits in within his schedule, we’ll accommodate it. And so we’re excited about that.
QUESTION: The relationship – actually, it was put back by (inaudible) fast track after January when Ambassador Gor came to the U.S. The trade deals have been pending for a while. We saw there’s a trade delegation visiting next month. Is that when you think the trade deal could be signed?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I don’t know. We hope to have agreement next week or the week after. But we’re down to very final details, the finite details of a deal. But I’m very confident. We all have a lot of reason to be optimistic that we’re on the verge of a trade deal. It’s going to be a great thing because it’ll be good for both countries. It’ll increase both U.S. investment here and Indian investment in the United States. It’ll create a platform for more co-investment between our companies, more cooperation. Obviously, things like tariffs and all that sit on top of the broader relationship and affect all of it. So the sooner we can put that to rest with a good trade deal that’s good for both countries, then the opportunities are limitless.
QUESTION: Is there a tariff number you want to disclose? I mean —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I’m not the tariff negotiator. The President obviously is very involved in that. But look, it’s more – obviously, the tariffs get a lot of attention, but it’s not just that. It’s access to products. And every trade agreement, every trade relationship requires modernization every 10, 20, 30 years, because new sectors emerge, because new imbalances emerge, because there are some industries that perhaps have not been focused on as much in the past. So I view this, as much as anything else, not just about tariffs but about creating the conditions to be able to do all these other things together that we want to be able to do.
QUESTION: But it could be as early as next month? It’s just not —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, I think – I wouldn’t put a definitive timeline, but I think it’s weeks, not months.
QUESTION: Okay. You’ve been very passionate about Quad. You’ve mentioned that it’s really close to you. One the first thing you did after taking the oath was Quad. What tangible outcomes are we looking at from the Tuesday’s meeting?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I think we’re just building on what we’ve already been working on. So one of the things we talked about at the second meeting we had with our foreign ministers – and we don’t want just the Quad to be a semi-annual meeting of likeminded countries. We want it to actually be a forum on which we continue to partner on things. And so one of the things obviously is maritime security, the threats to maritime security that exist. So those are one of the areas that we’re going to have – we’re going to continue to build out more formulations on things we can jointly do together in that front.
I think there’s also a tremendous interest in critical minerals and supply chains. That’s something that all four countries involved in the Quad are very interested in, and they have capabilities to bring to that as well.
So those are two areas where I think we can begin to build out some concrete actions and hopefully set the stage for a very successful meeting among the Quad leaders, the actual leaders of the four countries. We want to make sure we do the work necessary and position it so, when they do meet, they’ll have very specific deliverables and things that actually they can announce when they get together.
QUESTION: And which is when? I mean, the Quad leaders.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, hopefully this year. I don’t have a date on that yet, but hopefully this year we’ll find a time for all four leaders to get together. And it’s our job as the ministries to sort of make sure that we’ve positioned it so that, when they meet, they’re there to announce something important, something that’s been worked out, something that we’re going to be working on together.
QUESTION: Thank you. Let’s move towards Iran now. That’s the hot topic right now. I mean, there’s so many versions of this deal floating out. There’s so many reports coming out about if Iran is willing to give up uranium versus not. What can you tell us about that?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I would say there’s two ways – you look at it and you have to bifurcate two things. Number one is the issue of the straits. What they’re doing in the straits is illegal, unlawful, reckless, dangerous, and unacceptable. And I think the whole world needs to say that, and most of the countries in the world are saying that. India is saying that. The United States is saying that. Everywhere I – even the Chinese told us this last week when we were over there, that there can’t be a system in which a country takes over an international waterway, blows up ships that don’t agree to pay them a toll. That cannot happen. That cannot be normalized. The straits need to be opened immediately and fully, and so that’s the first stage of it.
The second is that Iran needs to enter into serious negotiations on three topics: their pledge never to have nuclear weapons, restrictions long term on their enrichment capabilities, and what do you do with the highly enriched uranium? There’s no reason to have 60 percent enriched uranium unless you want to turn it into 90 percent enriched uranium and weaponize it. Those topics have to be confronted.
Now, those are highly technical. It’ll take time to work through those. And obviously, there’ll be benefits for Iran if in fact they agree on these things and those negotiations. So open the straits, have a serious negotiation, and reach an outcome in which they’ll never have a nuclear weapon, in which the issues of enrichment and the issues of the highly enriched uranium are settled. And in exchange, they’ll get benefits for doing that. Obviously, those are going to be hard negotiations. But for the world, the most immediate step, the most important, is that the straits are reopened. What we cannot allow is a system in which they charge tolls and threaten to blow up commercial ships. That can’t continue.
QUESTION: The announcement of ceasefire has also drawn some criticism, notably from Democrats back home, but also from somebody like Senator Lindsey Graham, who said he doesn’t understand this deal. What would you like to tell him about this announcement?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, look, at the end of the day, the ceasefire, what we’re really talking about here is how can we get the straits open and how can we get Iran into a very serious negotiation that addresses their nuclear ambitions or what we believe to be their nuclear ambitions. The President has made that a very clear red line. They will never have a nuclear weapon. And every option the President has available today to keep them from having a nuclear weapon, he will have six months from now, he will have a year from now.
It’s always going to be our preference – always. As long as Donald Trump is President of the United States, it will always be our preference to settle our differences with other countries diplomatically, through engagement, through negotiation. Some countries are easier to deal with than others. I’m not claiming that Iran is an easy negotiation, but that would always be the President’s preference, and he is going to give diplomacy every chance to succeed.
Now, let me say this: If these efforts don’t work out, if in fact diplomacy fails in this instance, it will not be the fault of the United States or our allies in the Gulf. It will be 100 percent Iran’s fault. But let’s hope it does work out.
QUESTION: Could that mean you go back to resuming Operation Fury?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, again, the President made clear that there’s – that he will do whatever it takes to make sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon. He would prefer to fix it and address it through a negotiated diplomatic means, and that’s what we’re going to exhaust every opportunity to do. But ultimately, that option exists there for the President if that doesn’t work out. But that is not our preference. Our first choice is to be able to do this through a negotiated agreement, and that’s what we’re working towards.
QUESTION: You invoked China. You were recently in China. You were known as a China Hawk in the Senate. What is your assessment of the relationship with China?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, here’s the bottom line. The U.S. and China are the two largest economies in the world, and we also have powerful militaries. The United States has the most powerful military in the world, and China is undertaking the largest, most rapid military buildup in – probably in history. And so the question is – our countries have to have relations. We have to be able to speak, there has to be communication, and there has to be engagement. I think that it was clear before the visit and after the visit that there will also be strong areas of disagreement between the two countries, and those have to be managed, because if they’re not managed and they turn into something more conflictive, that can be problematic not just to both countries but to the world.
So it was an important visit in the sense that our countries have to be able to speak to one another, but it’s also clear that there are specific issues in which we’re not going to agree, specific things that we’re going to have to address that they probably don’t like, like our overdependence on them for critical minerals and supply chains. But that – I think the notion that we have to diversify our supply chains is not unique to America. Many countries around the world are reaching that conclusion as well.
So obviously, there’s no doubt that there will be issues of disagreement and issues that we’re going to have to manage, but it’s important for two countries like China and the United States to have engagement and be able to speak to one another, because you do want to avoid if possible – and I think it is possible – you want to avoid anything that could lead to destabilization in any part of the world.
QUESTION: You talk about counterterrorism efforts and cooperating with India on that. In January 2026, OSAC State Department released a report about the growth of terrorism in Pakistan, and I think a 35 percent increase of footprint in Pakistan about terrorism. At what point would U.S. like to review how it deals with that, the terrorism emanating from Pakistan?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we want to deal with terrorism no matter where it’s emanating from. I mean, if there are armed groups that are seeking to kill people and conduct acts of terrorism, and they’re operating within the national space of any country in the world, we need to address it. We’ve had to address it in our own hemisphere. We have very dangerous cartels operating now within Mexican territory, and we try to partner with the Mexican Government to address it, and we’ve had some effect in that regard. In others, I think it’s fallen short. We have – there are multiple places – I mean, Africa is a place where you’ve seen terrorism grow rapidly. And we’ve had the opportunity recently to partner with Nigeria, for example, to go after these elements.
So I would hope that we would be able to work with the Pakistani authorities to go after these very dangerous groups who pose a threat – ultimately, will pose a threat to the state, but in the short term pose a threat to people in the region and to the interests of the United States. So anywhere where there’s terrorism that’s a threat to our national interests and national security, we want to address it. And ideally, you want to address it in cooperation – if they’re located within a country, within that country’s boundaries, with the cooperation of that country.
QUESTION: Okay. What – President Trump is a very dynamic personality. What is the most misunderstood aspect of his personality?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Of the President?
QUESTION: President Trump, yeah.
SECRETARY RUBIO: I think it’s interesting. The President’s preference is to be someone’s friend, to be friendly. The President’s preference is always to get along well with people, despite disagreements. He has a long history of being very successful in business, not just in building things but in running operations that are built on hospitality. He’s incredibly hospitable. He’s a very gracious host. And if you look at his preference, it’s always to get along with people.
The other thing is the President has a willingness to talk to anybody. Traditionally in American politics, if you have a disagreement with a country or an individual, the posture is we can’t talk to them, we must not speak to them, we must ignore. The president’s attitude is very different. His difference – his attitude is if people are willing to talk to you, you should talk to them. It doesn’t mean you’re going to agree. It doesn’t mean you’re going to reach an agreement. It doesn’t mean you’re going to work things out. But what ill or bad could come of engaging with them?
And I think that’s been a problem for a lot of people that follow American politics, because I think a lot of times people think that somehow engaging in talks, in conversation and engagement with a country is somehow a concession. Now, this is the President that met with Kim Jong-un. And no American had spoken – now, sadly, he wasn’t in office the last four years, and so a lot of the momentum that was achieved during his first term was lost. But he is willing to talk to anybody and he is willing to get along with anybody.
By the same token, he’s not the kind of guy you want to cross – look, this is a president that when he says something, he does it. Even with Iran, even on the issue of Iran, people think – I’ve seen videos and they’re out there. People can watch them online. The President was talking about Iran and the threat posed from Iran back in 1985 when he was a real estate developer. He wasn’t even in politics. And what he was saying in 1985 is what he’s saying now. So there’s tremendous consistency in that regard. He is a president that means what he says. And if he says “I’m going to do something,” I would take him seriously.
QUESTION: Secretary, thank you so much for doing this. You’re a very fit person. A little birdie told me you like to run. Would you be running in 2028 for (inaudible)?
SECRETARY RUBIO: In 2028?
QUESTION: Yeah.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Oh, you’re talking about election stuff. (Laughter.) Oh, I’m not answering that. I mean, I’m very happy being the Secretary of State for President Trump. It’s a great job. I can’t imagine there’s a better job than this in American politics. So I’m very happy doing this work.
QUESTION: Wonderful. Thank you so much for talking with me.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you. Thank you.
