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Journalism of Courage
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has said the Trump administration’s decision to slap a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions is less about economics and more about politics.
“The unfairness of these measures has triggered a strong backlash in India,” Tharoor said, pointing to both Trump’s rhetoric in statements and tweets and the “extremely offensive statements” made by his top trade advisor Peter Navarro. “Such language has raised hackles in New Delhi and across the country. For over three decades, the India-US relationship has only moved toward greater warmth and closeness, so why suddenly resort to such disparaging words about India?”
Speaking to news agency ANI, Tharoor said the sudden visa fee hike was “principally driven by domestic politics,” with Trump seeking to consolidate support among his “so-called MAGA constituency.”
Calling the decision a “domestic political stunt,” Tharoor said the sudden hike was meant to appeal to Trump’s “so-called MAGA supporters” who believe Indian tech workers undercut American salaries. “Again, the motives are principally driven by domestic politics. Trump believes, and the people around him have told him, that the easy H-1B has meant that a lot of Americans who deserve a higher salary from the same companies are being bypassed by Indians who will accept a lower salary…Today, the dominant political forces of the so-called MAGA movement are very openly anti-immigrants, and particularly visible immigrants, people of a different colour who can be spotted as not of the white ethnic mainstream,” Tharoor stated in ANI interview.
“An Indian techie who comes and works for sixty thousand dollars a year is taking away, according to Trump’s supporters, jobs from an American who would not work for less than eighty-five or ninety thousand dollars a year,” Tharoor explained.
He argued that the new policy is designed to make low- and mid-level jobs “unviable”, ensuring only top-tier professionals can enter the US on H-1B visas. This, Tharoor warned, could backfire on the American economy.
“The obvious solution will be to outsource the job. What used to be done in America can now be done either in multinational company units in Europe or in their global capability centres in India,” he said.
Despite the strain between New Delhi and Washington, Tharoor said he did not see a permanent rupture in ties.
“It’s a very sharp setback in the short term. It’s costing India jobs and losses. But in the larger picture, both countries’ long-term interests will eventually bring us back on even keel,” he said.
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