EAM Jaishankar meets US State Secy Marco Rubio on sidelines of UNGA

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for bilateral discussions, as the high-level 80th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) kicks in.

The meeting at Lotte New York Palace is the first face-to-face interaction between them following President Donald Trump's imposition of an additional 25 per cent tariff on India for Delhi's purchases of Russian oil, taking the total levies imposed on India to 50 per cent.

They had last met in July in Washington DC for the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting. Their meeting takes place on the same day India and the US will hold discussions to achieve an early conclusion of a trade agreement.

A delegation led by Union Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal will meet with the US side on Monday in the city. "The delegation plans to take forward the discussions with a view to achieving early conclusion of a mutually beneficial Trade Agreement," the Ministry of Commerce and Industry had said in a statement.

The statement added that during the last visit of officials from the office of the US Trade Representative to India on September 16, positive discussions were held on various aspects of the trade deal, and it was decided to intensify efforts in this regard.

Jaishankar, who arrived in New York on Sunday for the high-level UNGA week, will hold a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings on the sidelines of the session and will deliver the national statement at the General Debate on September 27 from the iconic green UNGA podium.