External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday cautioned that the United States and European nations risk damaging their own economic interests if they continue imposing tougher immigration rules that restrict the movement of skilled professionals. His warning comes at a time when the US under President Donald Trump and several countries across the European Union are enforcing stringent actions aimed at curbing immigration.
Speaking at the India’s World Annual Conclave 2025, Jaishankar stressed that the West must recognise the shared advantages of allowing high-skilled mobility.
“The part which concerns us is to convince them that mobility, the use of talent across boundaries, is to our mutual benefit,” he said. “They would be net losers if they actually erected too many roadblocks to the flow of talent.”
The minister highlighted that in a democratic society, individuals must have the freedom to take up opportunities wherever they arise. Governments, he said, cannot and should not prevent citizens from seeking work abroad.
“…We can’t tell people not to go out to work. There’s a freedom of movement. We’re a democratic society. They have the freedom to travel. If they get better prospects, of course they will look at it. The common-sense thing is to create opportunities at home,” Jaishankar pointed out.
He stressed that retaining talent requires action both domestically and internationally—India must expand its pool of skilled professionals and simultaneously ensure sustained economic growth.
“Unless we are able to sustain high growth rates, we will not be able to find opportunities for their employment and retention,” he added.
Jaishankar argued that the current anti-immigration sentiment in Western nations is not a direct result of talent mobility but of long-standing policy decisions. He said the US and Europe are grappling with consequences of their own choices.
“If there are concerns, let us say, in the United States or in Europe, it is because they very consciously and deliberately, over the last two decades, allowed their businesses to relocate. It was their choice and strategy. They have to find ways of fixing it, and many of them are,” he said.
He also pointed to the increasingly polarised political climate in Western democracies, where migrants are often accused of “stealing jobs.” In the US, this narrative has been pushed aggressively by far-right Trump supporters who call for a crackdown on—or even the elimination of—H-1B visas. Similar rhetoric is gaining ground in the UK and parts of Europe, such as Germany, where the far-right AfD has grown in influence.
Jaishankar warned that these pressures will ultimately backfire on Western economies, especially as the world enters a new phase of advanced manufacturing.
“As we move into an era of advanced manufacturing, we will need more talent, not less, and talent cannot be developed organically at a high rate. There is a certain structural impediment out there. In their own societies, you can see the tension,” he said.