U.S. President Donald Trump declares end to birthright citizenship

Trump signs executive order affecting Indian professionals in the U.S., plans tariffs on BRICS, sparking concerns and diplomatic meetings.

Shortly after being sworn in on Monday (January 20, 2025), U.S. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order cancelling the provision of “citizenship by birth”, which, if unchallenged, could directly affect thousands of Indian professionals working in the U.S. under H-1B and other temporary visas, who hoped to raise their families there.

Mr. Trump also said he planned to levy “100% taxes” on BRICS countries for attempting to move to “non-dollar” transactions, referring to the 10-nation grouping of emerging economies that includes India.

“As a BRICS nation, they’ll have a 100% tariff if they so much as even think about doing what they thought, and therefore they will give it up immediately,” he said, erroneously referring to Spain as a BRICS member.

The grouping at present comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

In addition, Mr. Trump’s plans to crackdown on undocumented and illegal immigrants could hit about 7.25 lakh Indians, of which nearly 18,000 are already on a “final list for removal” or deportations.

As concerns grew in India over Mr. Trump’s announcements, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar was set to meet incoming U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss priorities for the India-U.S. bilateral relationship and the Quad.

The one-on-one meeting, which would be Mr. Rubio’s first with any foreign dignitary, was due to take place on Tuesday afternoon in Washington, following a meeting of the Quad Foreign Ministers, including Australia’s Penny Wong and Japan’s Iwaya Takeshi.