US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that he would expect India to be concerned about President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on imported generic medicines. However, Rubio said the issue was not discussed in detail during his meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Manila.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the ASEAN and East Asia meetings. Their talks covered several important issues, including trade and tariffs, energy, defence and security, critical minerals and artificial intelligence.
After the meeting, Jaishankar shared a post on X and said the discussions focused on areas that are important for the Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership between India and the US.
Rubio says India may be worried about Trump’s drug tariffs
The meeting came at a time when US President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose heavy tariffs on imported generic medicines, a move that could affect India, the world’s largest exporter of generic drugs to the US.
Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Jaishankar, Rubio was asked if the Indian minister had raised concerns about Trump’s proposed tariffs, especially because of India’s major role in supplying generic medicines to American consumers.
“I mean, not with me, we didn’t get into depth on pharmaceuticals today. Obviously, I would expect them to be concerned about it, but they didn’t raise it today. They might have with others in our system because we obviously deal with Indians; we’re very close to them,” Rubio said.
Earlier, in a post on Truth Social, Trump said generic drug manufacturers would get two years to move their production to the United States. Companies that fail to do so could face a 100% import tariff, with the tariff doubling a year later.
Markets are still waiting for more details about the proposed executive order.
The announcement has already affected pharmaceutical stocks. The Nifty Pharma index fell 1.3% on Wednesday. Shares of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories dropped 1.9%, while Cipla fell 1.2%, as investors looked at the possible impact of the proposed tariffs on Indian drug exporters.
India is a major supplier of generic medicines to US
India plays a major role in supplying affordable medicines to the US. According to a Bloomberg report, India was the largest supplier of generic medicines to the US and accounted for more than half of prescriptions for birth-control pills, antidepressants and hypertension drugs in 2024.
India also has the largest number of US Food and Drug Administration-approved drug manufacturing facilities outside the US. This further strengthens the country’s position as the world’s biggest producer of affordable generic medicines.
Jaishankar and Rubio discuss trade deal
While the pharmaceutical tariffs were not discussed in detail, Rubio and Jaishankar stressed the importance of completing the interim India-US trade agreement. US State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott confirmed the meeting and said the two leaders discussed important regional and bilateral issues.
“Secretary Rubio met today with Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar in Manila… discussed recent developments in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific,” Pigott said.
He added that Rubio and Jaishankar also discussed completing major defence agreements based on commitments made by US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.
Separately, while addressing the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Jaishankar called for stronger cooperation to build more resilient supply chains as geopolitical uncertainty continues to grow.
Both sides now appear to be close to finalising the interim trade deal, while Rubio’s possible visit to India later this year could provide another opportunity to take forward discussions on the wider India-US relationship.