New Delhi: The Quad leaders’ summit, which is expected to be hosted by India this year, is currently not on the cards with no invitations sent yet to the three other leaders of the grouping, it is learnt. The summit was not held last year either.
No invitations to President Donald J. Trump of the US, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia or Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi have been issued by India, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to ThePrint.
India, which continues to be the rotating chair of the four-member grouping which includes Japan, Australia and the US was supposed to hold the leaders’ level summit in 2025. However, no summit was held. India continues to remain the rotating chair of the grouping, with Australia waiting for India to host the summit before taking over.
The Quad, however, continues to function with foreign ministerial meetings held twice last year by the US, while the next one is likely to happen in India at the end of May, as reported by ThePrint. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to travel to India around 26 May.
The grouping, which was revived by Trump in 2017, focused on ensuring freedom of navigation across the Indo-Pacific region and as a potential counterweight to China. Beijing’s influence has grown over the last decade, especially in countries across Africa to South East Asia.
Under Trump, the strategic grouping remained active at the foreign ministers’ level. The organisation was raised to the level of a leaders’ meeting under Trump’s successor and predecessor President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2021. The first leaders’ level summit was held virtually.
During Biden’s tenure, six Quad leaders’ level summits were held, including four physical meetings and two virtual summits. The last summit was held in Wilmington, Delaware, in September 2024, on Biden’s request, as his presidency was coming to an end.
India at the time had acceded to Biden’s request, in 2024, for the Quad to be hosted in the US, in exchange for New Delhi hosting the 2025 summit. However, while interest remains high within New Delhi, Tokyo and Canberra to keep the grouping functioning, there are questions over Washington’s keenness in the organisation.
Within 24 hours of taking oath as Secretary of State, Rubio held a foreign ministers’ meeting with his counterparts, Penny Wong of Australia, S. Jaishankar of India and then Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, in January 2025. The timing of the foreign ministers’ meeting was taken as a sign of the US’ continued interest in the Quad under President Trump.
However, throughout 2025, no summit was held, especially as challenges in ties between all four members grew. Trump imposed up to 50 per cent tariffs on India in an attempt to pressure New Delhi to curtail Russian oil purchases.
In July 2025, before the final tariff announcements, Rubio once against hosted the foreign ministers of Quad nations in Washington D.C. The four foreign ministers, during the July 2025 meeting, reset the focus of the grouping, based on four key pillars—maritime and transnational security, economic prosperity and security, critical and emerging technologies and humanitarian assistance and emergency response.
However, questions remain over the leaders’ meeting now. During Trump’s second term, the American President has taken a different view on China. Trump is set to visit Beijing in the middle of May for a high-stakes summit. It will be the first presidential visit to China by an American President in eight years.
Trump also met Chinese President Xi Jinping on 30 October 2025 in Busan, South Korea. The meeting between Trump and Xi helped prevent an escalation in the ongoing trade war between the US and China, while setting the stage for the summit in May.
The sense within New Delhi remains that the Trump administration no longer has as keen an interest in the Quad as it did almost a decade ago. The outcomes of next month’s foreign ministers’ meeting of the Quad, if it happens, will likely sketch out the trajectory of the grouping for the remainder of the year.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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