India, US agree on importance of sustained engagement, India’s foreign minister says

NEW YORK – Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said he and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed at a meeting in New York on Sept 22 on the importance of sustained engagement to make progress in priority areas.

The meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly came after US President Donald Trump’s

move to impose a US$100,000 (S$128,000) fee

for new H-1B visas, the latest blow to US-India ties, which the two sides have sought to develop given shared concerns about China.

Posting on X, Dr Jaishankar said he and Mr Rubio discussed bilateral and international issues of concern and added they “agreed on the importance of sustained engagement to progress on priority areas”.

The meeting between Mr Rubio and Dr Jaishankar on Sept 22 was the first since Mr Trump imposed extra tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian oil. They last met in July at a meeting of the Quad grouping, which brings them together with Japan and Australia.

Ties have been strained by trade frictions, but relations had looked to be picking up again until Mr Trump’s visa announcement on Sept 19, which analysts say will raise operating costs for Indian information technology (IT) services companies.

India was by far the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas in 2024, accounting for 71 per cent of approved visas, while China was a distant second at 11.7 per cent, according to US government data.

Indian equity benchmarks declined on Sept 22, after key IT stocks lost roughly US$10 billion in combined market capitalisation after the US visa move.

Mr Rubio has stressed the importance of India ties.

In an unusual move, he made a surprise appearance at the hearing earlier in September to introduce Mr Sergio Gor, Mr Trump’s nominee to be the next US ambassador to New Delhi, and called India “one of the top relationships the United States has in the world today”. REUTERS