source: reuters

Foreign ministers from Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. will meet on Tuesday in New Delhi ​in an effort to regain momentum in the Indo-Pacific-focused group known as the Quad that critics say has slowed under President ‌Donald Trump.

The meeting between the countries’ top diplomats – Australia’s Penny Wong, India’s S Jaishankar, Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio – will be the third such gathering since September 2024.

The four nations had expected to hold a summit in India last year, but it never came to fruition amid tensions between Trump and Indian Prime ​Minister Narendra Modi over Washington’s tariffs and other matters.

But the countries share concerns about China’s growing power and Rubio – who arrived in ​India on Saturday for a four-day visit aimed at shoring up relations with New Delhi – has stressed the ⁠importance of maintaining a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”

“We don’t just want the Quad to be a semi-annual meeting of like-minded countries,” Rubio said on Sunday in ​an interview with Indian media. “We want it to actually be a forum on which we continue to partner on things.”

Rubio said the U.S. would like ​the Quad to take “concrete actions” on issues like maritime security and critical minerals, adding that diplomats would work toward a leaders’ meeting later this year.

“I don’t have a date on that yet, but hopefully this year we’ll find a time for all four leaders to get together,” Rubio said.

Tokyo is especially eager to diversify its supplies ​of critical minerals after Beijing stopped shipments of some materials used in aerospace, defence and chip-making industries to Japan following a diplomatic dispute.

The Quad meeting ​comes as the U.S. and Iran have circled around a possible deal to end their three-month conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The closure by Tehran of the crucial ‌waterway has ⁠upended energy markets and disrupted the global economy, an issue that is likely to feature prominently in Quad discussions.