When US secretary of State and national security advisor Marco Rubio arrived in Mumbai, an accompanying journalist said it was “remarkable” and wondered why Rubio would travel again to India within a few months. This is not a question that gets asked when senior American cabinet members visit European or West Asian countries multiple times. But, perhaps, the puzzlement reflects a gap that’s long existed between the DC establishment’s sense of India’s utility and that of US administrations. And Rubio’s trip made evident that, despite frictions, the Donald Trump administration does see India as useful to some of its interests — even if its agenda and prioritisation is different from that of the Joe Biden era.

One of those interests was clearly energy and India’s usefulness on both the demand and supply sides (as a consumer and a refined product producer). Former US officials have talked about the importance of engaging India because of the scale it brings in the technology domain. The Trump administration clearly sees that scale as important in the energy — and especially hydrocarbon — domain as well. It has highlighted in recent months that India is the third-largest energy consumer, the number one destination for US coal exports, and a growing buyer of US oil, natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas.

This is not just an energy play but also a foreign policy, economic and even political play — and Washington........

© hindustantimes