India Seeks Access for Workers in US Trade Talks After H-1B Blow

Indian officials will ask US trade negotiators this week to ease access for thousands of skilled workers, a person familiar with the matter said, days after President Donald Trump’s abrupt announcement to restrict H-1B visas.

Indian negotiators led by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal will raise the issue of movement of skilled professionals, such as IT workers, in their current round of trade talks in Washington, the person said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.

Trade talks up to now have centered around easing access for goods only, but Trump’s latest crackdown on immigration has pushed New Delhi to widen the negotiations to include services industries, such as IT. India’s economy is heavily skewed toward services, which make up more than 50% of gross domestic product.

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Trump’s move to slap a $100,000 fee on new H-1B applications for skilled workers will disproportionately hurt Indians, who make up two-thirds of the visas. The move threatens the nation’s $280-billion tech services industry, putting thousands of jobs at risk.

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India has made similar demands around mobility of its workers in other trade negotiations, which have sometimes been contentious. {snip}

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The mobility of skilled workers is vital to India’s services exports, which rose over 12% year-on-year to $383.5 billion in the financial year 2024–25, accounting for nearly half of the country’s total trade in goods and services, according to official data.

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