Overview

• External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New York on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly for their first in-person talks since recent tariff and visa tensions flared.
• Discussions focused on trade frictions and H-1B visa concerns following US moves that reporting describes as bringing effective duties on Indian goods to about 50 percent, including a levy linked to Russian oil purchases.
• President Donald Trump’s proclamation raised the H-1B application fee to $100,000, and the White House clarified that the increase applies only to new applicants.
• Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is leading a delegation in US talks aimed at an early trade agreement, with India’s Commerce Ministry citing “positive discussions” after the September 16 USTR visit.
• This was the third Jaishankar–Rubio meeting this year, and Rubio has recently called India one of the United States’ top relationships, underscoring the effort to preserve strategic cooperation.