Jaishankar meets Rubio to fix ties strained by tariffs, visa fees
BILATERAL – INDIA-USA
23 SEPTEMBER 2025
- External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an apparent bid by both sides to repair relations ruptured by a number of U.S. actions, including the 50% tariffs on Indian goods and an increase in H-1B visa fees.
- Talks were held on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) came even as Indian and U.S. trade negotiators prepared for their next round of talks.
- During his last visit, Mr. Jaishankar and Mr. Rubio had held the Quad Foreign Minister’s Meeting along with their counterparts from Australia and Japan.
- No date has yet been announced for the Quad summit, which would bring U.S. President Donald Trump and other Quad leaders to Delhi for the meeting due in November.
- In the past week, the U.S. had also passed more punitive actions, such as cancelling a waiver for India’s Chabahar port project in Iran, visa revocations for Indian corporate executives for alleged involvement in the fentanyl illegal drug trade, as well as imposing a $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications, a large number of which come from Indian tech firms or for Indian professionals.
- Mr. Trump recently also repeated his claim that he had brought the India-Pakistan conflict to an end, another cause of a strain in India-U.S. relations as India has denied the claim on a number of occasions.
