Jaishankar to Meet US Secretary of State Rubio in New York Amid Renewed Trade Push

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New York today on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, in a bid to consolidate recent gains in India–US relations, officials said.

The meeting marks the first in-person interaction between the two leaders since ties soured earlier this year over tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. Washington levied duties of up to 50 percent on Indian goods, citing New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil.

Relations have since improved following a diplomatic reset, with both sides resuming stalled trade talks. Trump recently expressed confidence that negotiations would face “no difficulty” in reaching a settlement.

Jaishankar and Rubio last met in Washington in July and earlier in January, but today’s talks are expected to focus on building momentum from those exchanges.

The meeting comes as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal leads a parallel delegation for trade discussions in Washington. “The delegation plans to take forward the discussions with a view to achieve early conclusion of a mutually beneficial trade agreement,” the commerce ministry said.

Another key issue is the Trump administration’s controversial decision to raise the H-1B visa fee to $100,000 for new applications, sparking uproar among US tech firms and Indian professionals. The White House has since clarified that the fee is a one-time charge applying only to fresh petitions, not existing visa holders.