Indian share benchmarks slip on US tariff, foreign outflow woes - Reuters

Published: October 19, 2026 at 7:32a.m. EDTU. S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Uzbekistan on Monday to promote trade and ties with Central Asia, during a trip that came amid rumblings that America’s top diplomat is ignoring pressing matters in favor of politically safer visits and meetings. The trip, which involves a stop in India later this week, seeks to promote U. S. economic and security ties with Central and South Asia. But it has only tangential links to the Trump administration’s current main foreign policy dilemmas in the Middle East and with the Russia-Ukraine war. Rubio has brushed aside suggestions he is eschewing the most difficult issues in favor of taking on lower-hanging diplomatic fruit with less risk of failure and political damage, and the State Department pushed back on the criticism of his schedule. Trade War coverage on BNNBloomberg.caIn Samarkand, Rubio was meeting with his counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan under the C5+1 diplomatic forum, which brings together the five Central Asian countries and the United States to discuss security, trade and other shared concerns.