Trade & QUAD in focus as Rubio meets PM Modi, says India cornerstone of US’s Indo-Pacific policy

The US Secretary of State described India as a "cornerstone" of Washington's Indo-Pacific strategy during his first India visit in this role. The Quad Foreig...

What Happened

The US Secretary of State described India as a "cornerstone" of Washington's Indo-Pacific strategy during his first India visit in this role.
The Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting was confirmed for May 27, 2026, bringing together the foreign ministers of India, the US, Japan, and Australia.
The Secretary of State's first official act upon assuming office in January 2025 had been to attend the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting — underscoring US strategic prioritisation of the grouping.
Discussions reaffirmed the centrality of the Quad as a mechanism for maintaining a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

Static Topic Bridges

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad): Origin and Evolution

The Quad is an informal strategic grouping of four democracies — India, the United States, Japan, and Australia — aligned around shared interests in a free and open Indo-Pacific. Its origins trace to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, when the four countries formed the "Tsunami Core Group" to coordinate humanitarian relief — demonstrating that ad hoc cooperation was feasible outside formal treaty structures.

First formation: 2007 — Initiated by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with the first officials-level meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Manila.
Collapse: 2008 — Australia withdrew under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, citing concerns about damaging ties with China.
Revival: 2017 — Senior officials met on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Manila; the grouping was reconstituted at the working level.
Elevation to Leaders' Summit: 2021 — The first virtual Quad Summit was held in March 2021, and the first in-person Quad Leaders' Summit in September 2021, elevating the grouping to the highest diplomatic level.
Members: India, United States, Japan, Australia.
The Quad has no formal charter, secretariat, or treaty basis — it operates through shared norms and annual summits/ministerial meetings.

Connection to this news: The Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting of May 27, 2026, represents the grouping's continued institutionalisation at the ministerial level, with the US Secretary of State's visit to India serving as bilateral preparation for the multilateral meeting.

Indo-Pacific as a Strategic Construct

The "Indo-Pacific" as a geopolitical concept formally entered US strategic vocabulary with the 2017 National Security Strategy, which replaced the earlier "Asia-Pacific" framing. India's own Indo-Pacific vision, articulated by the Prime Minister at the Shangri-La Dialogue in June 2018, emphasises inclusivity, ASEAN centrality, freedom of navigation, and rules-based order — distinct from, but compatible with, US frameworks.

The US "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" (FOIP) strategy was enunciated in 2017, covering maritime security, connectivity, governance, and economic growth.
Japan's "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" vision was first articulated in 2016 by Japanese PM Abe in Nairobi.
Australia's Indo-Pacific strategy is embedded in its 2023 Defence Strategic Review, which elevated the concept to the organising principle of Australian defence policy.
The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) was launched in May 2022, with India as a founding member, covering trade, supply chains, clean energy, and anti-corruption.
ASEAN, which views itself as central to the regional architecture, has its own "ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific" (AOIP, 2019).

Connection to this news: India's designation as a "cornerstone" of US Indo-Pacific policy reflects New Delhi's geographic centrality — straddling the Indian Ocean — and its growing military and economic weight. The Quad serves as the primary multilateral expression of Indo-Pacific alignment among the four democracies.

Malabar Naval Exercise and Maritime Security

The Malabar Naval Exercise is a trilateral/multilateral naval exercise among India, the US, and Japan (Australia joined from 2020). Originally a bilateral India-US exercise since 1992, it was expanded to include Japan permanently in 2015 and Australia in 2020 — making its expansion track a leading indicator of Quad cohesion.

Malabar 1992: Bilateral India-US exercise, initiated in the Arabian Sea.
Japan became a permanent participant from Malabar 2015.
Australia's inclusion from Malabar 2020 was seen as a landmark signal of the Quad's security dimension.
The exercises focus on anti-submarine warfare, carrier operations, and maritime interdiction — directly relevant to maintaining freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific.

Connection to this news: The Secretary of State's affirmation of Quad commitment, ahead of the May 27 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, occurs in a context where Quad maritime exercises and defence cooperation have become the operational backbone of Indo-Pacific multilateralism.

Key Facts & Data

Quad members: India, United States, Japan, Australia.
First Quad meeting: 2007 (Manila, sidelines of ASEAN Regional Forum).
Quad revival: 2017 (Manila, sidelines of East Asia Summit).
First Quad Leaders' Summit (virtual): March 12, 2021.
Australia joined Malabar naval exercise: 2020.
The IPEF (Indo-Pacific Economic Framework) was launched in May 2022 with 14 founding members including India.
The US Secretary of State's first official act in January 2025 was attending the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting, signalling the grouping's priority in US foreign policy.