External affairs minister S. Jaishankar met US secretary of state Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday, three days after the Trump administration introduced a manifold hike in the fee for fresh H-1B visa applications for skilled workers.

This is their third in-person meeting since President Donald Trump began his second stint at the White House in late January and the first after Washington slapped 50 per cent tariffs on Indian exports. There was no immediate readout from either side on what transpired. The only official word was from Jaishankar, who put out a post on X.

"Good to meet @SecRubio this morning in New York. Our conversation covered a range of bilateral and international issues of current concern. Agreed on the importance of sustained engagement to progress on priority areas. We will remain in touch," he wrote.

Jaishankar’s visit to New York coincided with that of Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal to Washington for trade talks with the US. While the trade talks are being primarily led by the commerce ministry, the tariff issue is likely to have come up in the Jaishankar-Rubio talks too, particularly the additional 25 per cent that has been slapped on India as a penalty for buying Russian oil.