External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday and pressed India’s case against a new American law that can impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on countries that keep buying Russian oil and gas. Jaishankar said on social media that he reiterated India’s interests and concerns regarding the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act and also discussed Gulf security and the war in Ukraine with Rubio.
What SRIA authorizes
President Donald Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 into law on September 18, according to a White House statement on H.R. 5334. The statute expands sanctions on Russia and Iran and gives the president authority—not an automatic trigger—to levy tariffs as high as 100 percent on goods from each of the top five importers of Russian crude oil and natural gas by volume over the preceding 12 months, with lists reassessed every 180 days.
India Today reported that Jaishankar’s conversation with Rubio came days after that signature and at a moment when India ranks among the largest buyers of discounted Russian crude. Hindustan Times noted New Delhi had warned US lawmakers that the measure could ripple through bilateral trade and global energy markets, and that the external affairs ministry had pledged to protect Indian economic interests if Washington exercised the new powers.
Jaishankar’s UNGA message
Jaishankar’s post on X after the meeting paired concern over SRIA with parallel talks on Gulf stability and Ukraine, signaling that energy sanctions are one strand in a wider UNGA agenda for New Delhi. He did not disclose Rubio’s reply in public, but the readout frames Parliament’s economic stakes—import bills, refining margins, and export exposure to US markets—against a statute born of an 18-month Capitol Hill push originally sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham.
Rubio later posted positively about the US-India partnership on social media, a tone India’s press corps contrasted with the tariff risk hanging over crude purchases. Fortune India and other outlets noted the law includes waiver language for US national-interest cases but offers no European-style exemption for India’s gas profile, leaving discretion with the Trump administration after a 30-day post-enactment window described in congressional summaries.
Parliamentary and market context
For the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha calendar, the immediate question is not a vote in New Delhi but how Indian refiners and exporters price the risk of US action before the next tariff review cycle. Opposition benches have already used earlier US duties on Indian goods to attack the government’s Russia energy policy; SRIA gives those debates a fresh statutory hook even as Jaishankar works the bilateral channel at UNGA.
What happens next
Trade officials in Delhi and Washington must now map whether India remains in the top-five importer list when the US Trade Representative refreshes rankings, and whether the White House issues waivers or proceeds toward punitive tariffs. Until those administrative steps land, Jaishankar’s Wednesday meeting marks the government’s first high-level, on-record pushback at UNGA against a law that could reshape India’s energy arithmetic and its parliamentary politics at home.
