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India-US trade deal: India to make a case for IT workers after H-1B visa row
Indian negotiators led by Union Minister Piyush Goyal will raise the H-1B visa issue in their current round of India-US trade talks in Washington DC.
Indian officials will ask their US counterparts to ease access for thousands of skilled workers as part of a India-US trade deal, a person familiar with the matter said, after President Donald Trump's sticker shock on new H-1B visa.
Negotiators led by Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal will raise the issue in their current round of India-US trade talks in Washington, the person said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.
The discussions have so far centred on easing access for goods, but Trump's latest crackdown on immigration has pushed New Delhi to widen negotiations to include services, such as IT. India’s economy is heavily skewed toward services, which make up more than 50% of GDP.
India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which is led by Goyal, didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comments.
Trump’s move to slap a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications for skilled workers will disproportionately hurt Indians, who make up two-thirds of the visas. The move threatens the nation’s $280-billion IT services industry, putting thousands of jobs at risk.
The tighter immigration rules come on top of Trump’s 50% tariff on Indian exports, half of which were meant to penalise New Delhi for buying oil from Russia. Indian officials have said the country will continue purchasing Russian energy as long as it’s financially viable.
Goyal is in the US this week to seek an end to the impasse and arrive at an India-US trade deal by the end of 2025, as the two sides had originally agreed. The initial plan was to have a trade deal negotiated in tranches, with the first phase comprising goods, while services would be left for later stages.
India has made similar demands around mobility of its workers in other trade negotiations, which have sometimes been contentious.
Talks on a India-UK free trade agreement stalled in 2022 because New Delhi wanted more visas and easier rules for Indian nationals seeking to work in Britain. The two countries eventually agreed on a trade pact this year, which allows, among other things, 1,800 visas for some services up to a year of contractual services.
India is also seeking easier mobility provisions for its workers in current trade negotiations with the European Union.
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Prospects of an India-US trade deal remain uncertain given the H-1B visa row and Trump’s demand that New Delhi stop buying Russian oil. Talks resumed last week after Trump called Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday. Trade negotiators last week described the one-day discussions as “positive.”
On Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and stressed that robust India-US relations is “of critical importance”.
