Marco Rubio's Big Praise For "Busy Man" S Jaishankar At QUAD

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was all praises for Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar as he hosted counterparts from India, Japan and Australia for the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Tuesday. Rubio noted the Indian leader was a "very busy man", continuing India's diplomatic efforts across the globe. 

"I've seen him a number of times in just six months on the job. I was just telling him, he travels so much. Every time I see the news, Dr Jaishankar is in a different part of the world. He's a very busy guy," the American leader said in his opening remarks ahead of the four-country meeting. 

🚨: “Every time I turn on the news, Dr. Jaishankar is in a different part of the world — he's a very busy man"

- Us Sec Of State Marco Rubio pic.twitter.com/3afRWWtQ8G

— The Frustrated Indian (@FrustIndian) July 1, 2025

Rubio also called the Quad countries important strategic partners and said it was time to "deliver action" on specific issues.

Quad, or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is a strategic dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, focused on promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific region, ensuring maritime security, and fostering economic cooperation. 

After Tuesday's meeting, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on X that the proceedings had been "very productive". Jaishankar also held a bilateral meeting with Rubio. 

In a joint statement after talks in Washington, the countries' foreign ministers said they were launching the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative, which they called an "ambitious expansion of our partnership to strengthen economic security and collective resilience by collaborating to secure and diversify critical minerals supply chains."

India-US Trade Deal

Jaishankar said on Monday there were hopes of bringing the trade talks to a successful conclusion, which would require "give and take" to find middle ground.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington could reach a trade deal with India that would help American firms compete there and leave New Delhi facing far lower tariffs, although he cast doubt on a possible deal with Japan by a July 9 deadline for higher levies.

Quad On Pahalgam Attack

India also differed with Trump's claims that his intervention and threats to cut off trade talks averted a major conflict between India and Pakistan after terrorists killed 26 tourists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in April.

On Monday, Jaishankar restated India's position that trade was not a factor in bringing a ceasefire with Pakistan, while adding in reference to the US that "relationships will never be free of issues," and "what matters is the ability to deal with it and to keep that trend going in the positive direction."

The joint statement by the Quad top diplomats condemned the April 22 Pahalgam attack, for which India blamed Pakistan. That attack sparked a major escalation in India-Pakistan tensions, leading to heavy fighting between the two nuclear-armed nations that was halted by a ceasefire announced on May 10.

India-US Defence Ties

After the Quad meeting, Jaishankar went to the Pentagon, where Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said he hoped India and the U.S. could build on their defence integration efforts.

"We hope we can complete several major pending US defence sales to India, expand our shared defence industrial cooperation and co-production efforts," Hegseth said.