“What I can say in terms of India is that the President (Donald Trump) has been very clear in terms of the concerns he has regarding the trade imbalance, regarding the concerns he has when it comes to the (Indian) purchase of Russian oil. You have seen him take action directly on that,” Pigott said at a press briefing in response to a question about Prime Minister Modi’s reported upcoming visit to China for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

“India is a strategic partner with whom we engage in a full and frank dialogue. That will continue and Secretary Rubio has spoken on that. Like anything in foreign policy, you are not going to align 100% of the time on everything,” Pigott added.

Pigott’s statements come as a shift in tone even as India-US tensions rise over Indian purchases of Russian energy and Trump’s decision to levy a 50% tariff on India. India has pushed back at President Trump’s tariff levies, terming them “unfair, unreasonable and unjustified”. India’s ministry of external affairs also took aim at US and European purchases of energy, chemicals and fertilisers from Russia as evidence of a double standard.

Tensions with America have also sparked a flurry of diplomatic activity. On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with President Lula of Brazil, and on Friday, with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Both India and Brazil face a 50% tariff from the United States and the two leaders have had increasingly strained relations with US President Donald Trump. They agreed to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries.

On a visit to Moscow, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval stated that India and Russia were finalising dates for Putin’s visit to India, and on Friday, Modi said in a post on X that he looks forward “to hosting President Putin in India later this year”. And China issued a statement welcoming Prime Minister Modi for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit to be held in Tianjin at the end of this month.

“China welcomes Prime Minister Modi to China for the SCO Tianjin Summit. We believe that with the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results, and the SCO will enter a new stage of high-quality development featuring greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism and productiveness,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun.

HT earlier reported that the bureaucracies in New Delhi and Washington are attempting to steady the relationship, with talks ongoing for high-level energy, financial and diplomatic. cooperation continuing. Contacts between the Indian government and their American counterparts have remained relatively unaffected by political tensions.