US Reaffirms Strong Commitment to Quad, Promises Expanded Engagement in 2026
The Quad’s momentum builds as the US signals deeper engagement and renewed coordination with India, Japan and Australia ahead of an expanded Indo-Pacific agenda in 2026. Image courtesy: Representative picture via X.com/@MEAIndia
The United States has reaffirmed its “deep commitment” to the Quad grouping with India, Japan, and Australia, signalling plans to intensify cooperation in 2026 as strategic competition grows across the Indo-Pacific.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the remarks on Monday (December 8, 2025), stressing that the Quad will remain a central pillar of Washington’s regional strategy in the year ahead.
What did Rubio say about Quad?
Speaking alongside US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles, and Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Rubio said the Quad continues to evolve as a key platform for security and diplomatic coordination.
The officials were addressing the media ahead of the Australia-US Ministerial Consultations at the State Department.
How did Rubio emphasise the Quad’s importance?
Rubio recalled that his very first engagement after being sworn in as Secretary of State in January 2025 was with the Quad Foreign Ministers.
“I came right up to this room for my first event as Secretary of State with the Quad,” he said, emphasising the grouping’s priority status for the Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific policy.
He added that the Quad had already met at least three times this year and would “continue to build on that” in 2026.
When is India hosting the Quad meet?
The Quad Foreign Ministers — India’s Dr. S. Jaishankar, Japan’s Takeshi Iwaya, Rubio, and Australia’s Penny Wong — first met this year on January 21, shortly after President Donald Trump began his second term. A second ministerial meeting followed in Washington, DC, in July.
While India is slated to host the 2025 Quad Leaders’ Summit, the dates have not yet been announced. However, coordination efforts continue.
New Delhi hosted the third Quad Counterterrorism Working Group meeting on December 4–5, while the US conducted the annual Quad Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR) tabletop exercise in Honolulu from December 2–5.
The back-to-back engagements underline the Quad’s accelerating agenda as the four democracies deepen cooperation on security, counterterrorism, and disaster-response across the Indo-Pacific.
