US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began a three-day visit to India on Tuesday, arriving in Mumbai for talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on trade, energy, defence and critical technologies, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) schedule reported by PTI and ANI.

Rubio was scheduled to land at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport at 2:15 pm IST, lay a wreath at the Taj Memorial at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel at 3:40 pm to honour victims of the 26/11 terror attacks, and hold bilateral talks with Jaishankar at the same venue from 3:50 pm. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said discussions are expected to cover energy, trade and investment, defence, critical and emerging technologies and other areas of mutual interest, PTI reported.

In the evening Rubio is scheduled to attend the Freedom 250 Reception at the Jio World Convention Centre marking 250 years of US independence, where Jaishankar will be guest of honour. On Wednesday he travels to Jamnagar, Gujarat, an energy hub.

Earlier on Tuesday, Jaishankar met a US Congressional delegation in Mumbai — Jason Smith, David Schweikert, Elise Stefanik, Andy Ogles and Laura Friedman — and said on X they discussed trade, energy, security, technology, ease of doing business in India and Indo-Pacific cooperation, ANI and IANS reported.

The visit comes as both sides say a bilateral trade deal is close: speaking in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Monday, Rubio said, "We're trying to finalise a trade deal with India right now. We're very close to doing that." No deal has been announced as signed.

Sources: PTI, ANI, IANS, Ministry of External Affairs.