New Delhi: External affairs minister S. Jaishankar on Sunday (May 24) publicly raised Indian concerns over tightening US visa rules and legal mobility restrictions during talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as both sides sought to contain growing friction in the bilateral relationship over immigration, tariffs, Pakistan and trade.At a joint press conference in New Delhi on the second day of Rubio’s four-day India visit, Jaishankar said he had flagged the difficulties faced by legitimate Indian travellers amid the Trump administration’s ongoing overhaul of the American immigration system.“I apprised Secretary Rubio of challenges that legitimate travellers face in respect of visa issuance,” Jaishankar said. “While we cooperate to deal with illegal and irregular mobility, our expectation is that legal mobility would not be adversely impacted as a consequence.”The issue of mobility became one of the clearest pressure points to emerge publicly during Rubio’s visit, which Washington has framed as an effort to reinforce ties with a key Indo-Pacific partner amid growing concerns in New Delhi that India has been strategically sidelined during Donald Trump’s second term.Jaishankar’s remarks came days after the Department of Homeland Security announced on May 22 that US Citizenship and Immigration Services would now grant Adjustment of Status, the process by which legal migrants apply for a green card from within the United States, only under “extraordinary circumstances.”The new policy effectively forces foreign nationals to leave the country and complete consular processing from a US diplomatic mission abroad. Immigration lawyers and advocacy groups have warned that the move could disproportionately affect Indian professionals already trapped in decades-long employment-based green card backlogs.Many H-1B visa interview appointments at US consulates in India are now being scheduled for 2027, leaving Indian professionals who travel home unable to return to the United States for extended periods.Indians form one of the largest groups within America’s high-skilled immigration system through H-1B visas, while Indian students had earlier represented one of the fastest-growing international student populations in the United States.Responding to repeated questions on the issue, Rubio insisted the changes were not specifically aimed at India, even while acknowledging that Indians would inevitably feel the impact because of their large presence in the US technology and professional sectors.“What I want to make clear is that the changes, while they may be having a disproportionate impact on a place like India that provides so many high-skilled workers to the US economy, it is not a system that is targeted at India,” Rubio said.He described the US as undergoing “a period of modernisation” of its immigration system and predicted the reformed system would ultimately be “even more beneficial than the previous system was to people from India that seek to enter the United States to work and innovate.”At an event at the US embassy on Saturday, Rubio had announced the introduction of an “America First visa scheduling tool that prioritises business professionals” in the consular system.‘Every country has stupid people’Rubio also faced questions about racist rhetoric targeting Indians in the United States, an issue that has become politically sensitive in India following recent immigration debates and controversies involving comments amplified by President Donald Trump.When asked about “racist comments” directed at Indians, Rubio initially repeatedly asked the journalist to specify which comments she was referring to. “Who made those comments?” Rubio asked. “Which ones?” The journalist did not directly identify the controversy he was referring to, but the exchange appeared to allude to the backlash triggered in April after Trump reposted remarks describing India and China as “hellhole” countries and accusing Indian immigrants of taking American jobs.India’s external affairs ministry had termed those remarks as “uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste” without directly naming Trump.A Carnegie Endowment survey published in February 2026 pointed to rising concern among Indian Americans over online racism, with nearly half of respondents saying they frequently encountered racist content targeting Indians and Indian Americans on social media.Rubio eventually dismissed the issue more broadly, saying “every country in the world has stupid people”.He described the United States as a country that had been “enriched by people who come to our country, who come from our country, from all over the world, have become Americans and assimilated into our way of life and have contributed greatly.”“I’m sure there are stupid people here. There are stupid people in the United States that make dumb comments all the time. I don’t know what else to tell you other than the United States is a very welcoming country,” he said.Momentum, tariffs and a deal ‘on the verge’The visa and racism questions fed into a broader concern that has dominated Indian commentary on the relationship over the past year. A reporter put it to Rubio directly that “many in India feel that the relationship has lost the momentum in the last one year over issues including tariffs, a more transactional US approach, and mixed signals on Pakistan and China.”“The US-India relationship has not lost any momentum,” Rubio responded. “I understand why some people might say that. I mean, I don’t understand, but I understand some people say that, but I don’t see it or view that in any way, shape, or form.”He attributed the trade friction to a global effort to reverse what he called the “de-industrialisation” of the American economy. “The President did not say, let’s figure out a way to create friction with India over trade. The President came in and said, we have a trade situation involving the U.S. economy that doesn’t work moving forward,” Rubio said.The US had imposed one of the highest tariff rates on Indian goods at 50%, matching Brazil. The package included an additional punitive tariff of 25 percent specifically targeting India over its purchases of Russian oil, despite other countries, including China, continuing to buy Russian crude.India and the United States signed an interim trade agreement in February, under which India committed to buy American goods including energy, aircraft, technology and agricultural products. The deal brought Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods down from 50 percent to 18 percent. When the US Supreme Court in late February struck down Trump’s sweeping tariff order, the effective rate dropped further to 10%. A comprehensive deal has not been finalised, and the Trump administration is pursuing trade investigations under unfair trade practices legislation widely expected to restore much of the prior levies.On the specifics of a trade deal, Rubio said the two sides were “on the verge” of an agreement and that he was “hopeful that our trade representative can visit here very soon.” Jaishankar confirmed that an American team was expected shortly. “Our expectation is that an American team will be visiting India soon for that purpose,” he said.Even as both ministers stressed progress on trade, their public remarks also revealed subtle differences in how Washington and New Delhi framed the broader relationship.While Rubio had described the two countries as “strategically aligned on all of the key issues that will define the new century”, Jaishankar’s formulation was more cautious, acknowledging that the two countries’ interests would not always converge.“Where the United States is concerned, the Trump administration has been very forthright in putting forward its foreign policy outlook as America first. Now, where we are concerned, we have a view of India first. So both of us are obviously driven by our respective national interests,” he said.“There will be many areas where our national interests are in harmony and we work together, which is why we have a strategic partnership. There could be some where they don’t, in which case we have to manage those situations.”Both ministers batted together to defend the continuing relevance of the Quad amid perceptions that the grouping had lost momentum under Trump’s second term, especially after the absence of a leaders’ summit and Trump’s recent attempts to stabilise relations with China.Jaishankar noted that the Quad in its current form had effectively taken shape during Trump’s first presidency and argued that the Indo-Pacific would become even more important because of trade and energy flows. “We are doing a lot with each other because we are maritime powers,” Jaishankar said. “We are doing a lot with each other because we are democratic powers.”Tuesday’s Quad foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi will be the third ministerial without an accompanying leaders’ summit in over two years.Pakistan question meets guarded answersQuestions about Pakistan reflected another source of unease in New Delhi. A reporter asked Rubio whether the administration’s engagement with Pakistan, “especially Pakistan’s military leadership,” was coming “at India’s expense,” pointing to that leadership’s “links with terrorism and also with regional instability.”Rubio gave a brief answer, without directly naming Pakistan “I don’t view our relation with any country in the world as coming at the expense of our strategic alliance with India,” he said, without elaborating. It was not the first time Rubio had faced the question as Washington had grown closer to Islamabad even before the Iran war. Speaking to reporters en route to Doha last October, he had acknowledged that India was “concerned for obvious reasons” but maintained that the US wanted to “deepen” its partnership with Pakistan.To a question about India’s concerns on Pakistani mediation in Iran war, Jaishankar merely said, “Now, as to who all are involved in the matter which Secretary Rubio addressed, I think it’s for the parties to work out, it’s for them”.Energy featured as one area where both sides pointed to forward movement. Jaishankar acknowledged an uptick in energy purchases from the United States and described it as “a very significant and reliable source” of supply, though he was careful to add that “so do some other countries.” Before arriving in India, Rubio had told reporters in Miami that the United States wanted to sell India “as much energy as they’ll buy.”Jaishankar also flagged nuclear energy cooperation as a growing area of engagement, saying the passage of the Shanti Act had “opened up new possibilities” and that an American delegation had recently visited India. “We hope to realize the potential of cooperation in the nuclear domain,” he said, adding that he had raised unspecified “regulatory issues” on the American side with Rubio.Later on Sunday, Rubio also met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. The MEA said the discussions focused on “defence, security and strategic technology related cooperation including the TRUST initiative” and that the two “reiterated the high priority accorded to the bilateral Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.” Doval had also been present at Rubio’s meeting with Modi on Saturday.Rubio reiterated at the press conference an invitation from President Trump for Modi to visit the White House, which he had first conveyed at their meeting on Saturday. Jaishankar did not publicly respond to the invitation. India’s readout of the call-on by Rubio had also not mentioned it.Trump phones in to Independence Day eventRubio’s second day in India was capped with a gala reception at Bharat Mandapam to mark 250 years of US independenceTrump briefly joined the US Independence Day celebrations at Roosevelt House in New Delhi through a direct phone call with US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor, which was put on a speakerphone for the audience.“I love India,” Trump said on the call. “I love the Prime Minister. Modi is great. He’s my friend.”Trump added that he was “very proud” of Modi and said, “Anything India wants, they get.” He also described Rubio as “the greatest Secretary of State in the history of the US.”The event was attended by Rubio, Jaishankar, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and other senior Indian and American officials, with composer A.R. Rahman performing at the reception.