00:00Let me bring in Gaurav Samant on this broadcast, because in just two hours from now, we'll be
00:05premiering that full interview at 8 p.m. on India Today. Gaurav, to you, you've listened to that
00:11full interview. What's the biggest headline, Gaurav? Oh, there are many, many headlines and
00:16headlines that only Raj Chingappa could have gotten out of two very seasoned diplomats,
00:22you know, both Sergio Gaur and, of course, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
00:26One of the biggest takeaways is not just an imminent trade deal, but the meeting between
00:32Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the U.S. President Donald Trump that's likely to take
00:36place sometimes December. That's very interesting. And the fact that both speak very frequently on
00:41phones, something that, you know, does not come out openly in the media. Also, the fact that the SMR
00:47or the, you know, small modular reactor, if that kind of technology is coming to India and coming
00:53to India soon, that's quite a quite a development. The U.S. also talking about the fact that F-35s
01:00have come to India for joint exercises. F-35s only go to trusted partners. Very, very interesting
01:07conversations. But, you know, on the trade deal and, you know, later later this evening on India
01:12first, we'll be speaking to Raj Chingappa on on what are the niggles that that still remain
01:18on the trade deal. How soon do we see the trade deal? And, you know, look, India and America,
01:24they've had a very predictable journey post-1998. Both countries have invested very extensively in
01:32each other, each other's rise. However, under Trump 2.0, the journey has been quite a rollercoaster
01:41ride. Does it now return on an even keel? And his trip, you know, Marco Rubio's visit to
01:50Jamnagar adds a very interesting dimension with U.S. describing India as a refining superpower
01:56that we are. You know, how much more do we scale up? What does it translate into? Many,
02:02many interesting points here. You know, you mentioned the reference of refining superpower there,
02:07Gaurav. We just played an excerpt of what, you know, the U.S. State Secretary, Marco Rubio,
02:13as well as Ambassador Gaurav, had to say on that. What do you think would be a win-win in
02:17the
02:17situation? Because U.S. clearly is eyeing India, eyeing Jamnagar at a time when there's so much global
02:22uncertainty. Look, we are a stable country. We are a country and Jamnagar is one place that can refine
02:31a very large amount of Venezuelan crude. We have been doing that in the past. And of course,
02:38the Russian Ural and they're both very, very different. You know, you can just tweak a little
02:44and get more out of the Russian oil. But when it comes to the Venezuelan oil, it's very heavy.
02:51It has a lot of wax in it. It takes a lot more to refine it. It goes through a
02:55lot of processes to
02:57refine that oil. And Jamnagar has the facility to do it. Jamnagar has had it for quite some time.
03:03That's point one, point two. They also expect a lot of Indian investment or, you know, reliance
03:09investment in the United States of America. While American president may talk about this being some
03:15300 billion dollars, I do not know if that is the sum that's been agreed to as being looked at.
03:22But it just goes on to indicate that trade ties between the two countries or, you know,
03:27energy cooperation between the two countries is set to escalate. And especially at a time when Ukraine
03:33has been setting Russian refineries on fire and Iran has been going after refineries of Saudi Arabia.
03:40In this situation, India is extremely stable. And Indian refineries will play a major,
03:47major role in times to come. Because while the effort is to try and find a solution to Russia,
03:51Ukraine war, and incidentally, there's a conversation around that. Efforts are to get
03:56Ukraine and Russia to look at peace. Will it happen? And when in all of that, India also has a
04:03role
04:03to play in ensuring that that global energy requirements are met.
04:08No, but also the sense you get in this interview, Gaurav, is that, look, America is also pushing.
04:13There's a point where there's a conversation on investment. And America is kind of suggesting
04:17that that's a two-way street. On the issue of oil, there may be a pragmatic policy shift
04:22by Trump on the issue of Russian oil, but they're still kind of trying to push India
04:25towards purchasing more Venezuelan oil, towards relying more on America. So in that interview,
04:31you know, as you often say, we keep pushing for the India first agenda, but America is also pushing
04:36back.
04:37And that's the big issue. Can India first agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and America first
04:44agenda of Donald Trump go hand in hand? You know, India has been a very accommodating
04:49power. Will the US be equally accommodating of India's rise? While we've seen that in the past
04:56under Donald Trump 2.0, that really hasn't been the case as we thought it would be. You know,
05:02when Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to America soon after his swearing in, we'd expected this
05:07relationship to take a very different trajectory. It's taken a different trajectory. But if you notice,
05:12India continues to rise at a, you know, spectacular 7% plus even this year and expected for 2027
05:23against all odds. Now, you know, India has also made it very clear when America talks of
05:28diversification and taking more from the Western Hemisphere, India is saying we'll, India gets our
05:34energy requirements from 40 or different sources. And we intend to continue to do so because nobody wants
05:41to rely only on one partner. As US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also indicated their over-reliance
05:47on China, 90% on some, you know, critical minerals. And, you know, that's a cause for grave concern even
05:55for the United States. So diversification, will they accommodate each other remains the big challenge.
06:01And will there be predictability and continuity in this relationship? Or will the sword of tariffs
06:06continue to hang on India? Let's see what the trade deal actually brings with it.
06:13A lot of the questions that you also brought up, Gaurav, you know, in the interview, there are
06:17answers to that. When you listen to what Secretary Rubio or Ambassador Gaurav say, there's clear answers
06:23as to what America is thinking and what trajectory they're headed towards on several of those issues.
06:28Gaurav, thanks very much for joining us. 8 p.m. tonight is when we'll give you that full
06:33interview. We don't want to reveal too much.
