US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to brief New Delhi on the Xi-Trump summit during his upcoming four-day visit to India. The visit aims to navigate a relationship strained by recent political and strategic unease.

When Marco Rubio was confirmed as US Secretary of State last year, fireworks of optimism went off in New Delhi. Given his years as a senator championing a pro-India, staunchly anti-China posture, policymakers anticipated an unprecedented alignment. However, as Rubio arrives in India on Saturday for a four-day visit spanning Kolkata, Agra, Jaipur and New Delhi, he enters a relationship strained by transactional politics, structural deadlock and mounting strategic unease over Washington’s recent.....