During a meeting in Manila on Wednesday, Jaishankar met Rubio to discuss priority areas, including trade, tariffs, energy, defence, critical minerals, and artificial intelligence.

JUST IN: 🇺🇸🇮🇳 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said India did not raise concerns over President Trump’s proposed tariffs on generic drugs during their meeting.

Rubio added that the United States remains “very close” to India and understands New Delhi’s concerns over the issue. pic.twitter.com/J9gI8jgWN3

— Asia Nexus (@nexusasian) July 22, 2026

Rubio: India did not raise drug tariff issue

Rubio, while taking questions from reporters, was asked if he had any discussion regarding the generic drugs tariff proposed by the Trump administration and if Jaishankar raised any concern about the tariffs announced.

Always good to see my friend, Indian External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar on the sidelines of ASEAN.

We discussed regional security issues, the Quad, trade, and defense agreements. Our relationship with India is vitally important. pic.twitter.com/Ji7umqLO7K

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) July 22, 2026

Rubio responded, saying that “We didn’t get into depth on pharmaceuticals today, but I would expect them to be concerned about it, but they didn’t raise it today.”

Pleased to meet @SecRubio of the USA here in Manila.

Our meeting focused on areas which are priority for the 🇮🇳🇺🇸 Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, including trade & tariffs, energy, defence & security, critical minerals & artificial intelligence.

We also exchanged… pic.twitter.com/dCc9YpQAEp

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) July 22, 2026

The US Secretary of State added that India “might have raised concerns with others in our system because we were obviously deal with India; we are very close to them.”

West Asia crisis also figures in discussions

According to a PTI report, Jaishankar and Rubio also exchanged views on the West Asia crisis and its larger impact on global fuel supplies and market stability.

Jaishankar highlights strategic partnership agenda

Informing about the discussion, Jaishankar in a social media post wrote, “Our meeting focused on areas which are priority for the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, including trade and tariffs, energy, defence and security, critical minerals and artificial intelligence.”

The external affairs minister added, “We also exchanged quick perspectives on regional, global and multilateral issues of mutual interest.”

Jaishankar and Rubio are in the Philippines to participate in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Quad grouping and take part in the high-level discussions under the framework.

Trump announces phased tariff plan for generic drugs

The development comes as Trump on Tuesday said all generic drugs being brought into America will continue to have a tariff of 0 per cent for two years starting from August 1, and after that the tariff rate will be hiked to 100 per cent for one year and to 200 per cent thereafter.

In a post on Truth Social, the US President wrote, “This is done in order to RESHORE ⁠Generic Pharmaceutical Production into America, with a penalty ​to those Companies that decide not to build ​Plant and Equipment within the stated period of time given to them.”