‘No such visit took place’: MEA refutes reports of Doval-Rubio meeting ahead of India-US trade deal | India News

New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday refuted a Bloomberg report that claimed that the National Security Adviser Ajit Doval Meeting with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio before New Delhi and Washington agreed on a trade deal.At a weekly press conference, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal called the report baseless and said no such meeting was held.

“There is absolutely no basis for the report. No such meeting or visit took place,” Jaiswal said.ALSO READ | Doval tells Rubio that India won’t be bullied by Trump; report says govt willing to wait out US president’s termEarlier on Wednesday, news outlet Bloomberg reported that Doval met with Rubio last September and told him that the Narendra Modi-led government was willing to wait for the US president to step down Donald TrumpIf Washington does not tone down public criticism of New Delhi, the terms of the trade deal will be scrapped.Doval also reportedly told Rubio that India would not be bullied by Trump or his top aides.Also Read | India-US trade deal: How Delhi’s behind-the-scenes push could break Trump’s tariff wallPreviously, the US President announced a trade agreement with India on Monday, cutting tariffs from 50% to 18%.“It was an honor to speak with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India this morning. He is one of my best friends and a strong and respected leader in India. We talked about many things, including trade and ending the war with Russia and Ukraine. He agreed to stop buying Russian oil and buy more from the United States and possibly Venezuela,” Trump announced in a social media post on Truth Social.Earlier on Tuesday, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the “much-awaited trade deal” with the US has been successfully concluded.