Trump's H-1B U-turn; says the US must import specialised talent

New Delhi: In one of biggest U-turns, President Donald Trump doubled down on the value of H-1B visas during a fiery Fox News interview aired Tuesday night, insisting the U.S. must import specialised talent to stay competitive in critical industries like defense and clean energy. 

The endorsement comes just weeks after his administration imposed, and then partially rolled back, a controversial $100,000 one-time fee on new H-1B applications, drawing sharp criticism from tech giants and exposing fissures within the MAGA coalition.

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Speaking to host Laura Ingraham on The Ingraham Angle, Trump defended the program as essential for filling gaps in American expertise, even as he acknowledged the need to curb abuses. 

"You also do have to bring in talent," Trump declared, pushing back against Ingraham's suggestion that the U.S. boasts "plenty of talented people" domestically. 

When pressed further, he elaborated: "No, you don’t. You don’t have certain talents & people have to learn." 

The exchange underscored Trump's evolving stance, blending his signature "America First" rhetoric with pragmatic nods to global competition.

The interview marks the latest chapter in a tumultuous few months for H-1B policy under Trump's second term. 

In September, the administration unveiled a sweeping proclamation slapping a $100,000 fee on new petitions, aimed at deterring what White House officials called "spamming the system" by Big Tech firms seeking cheap foreign labor. 

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick hailed the move at the signing ceremony, stating, "The whole idea is no more will these Big Tech companies or other big companies train foreign workers. They have to pay the government $100,000, then they have to pay the employee, so it’s just not [economical]."

Opposing Trump’s steps to curb visas, tech leaders, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, warned it would cripple innovation and U.S. competitiveness in AI and semiconductors. 

By October, amid mounting pressure and a flurry of lawsuits from industry groups, the administration eased the policy, exempting certain high-priority sectors like advanced manufacturing and national security. 

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who personally certified over 175 investigations into H-1B abuses that month, emphasised the balance: "The Labor Department is using every resource currently at our disposal to put a stop to H-1B visa abuse... Under the leadership of President Trump, we will continue to invest in our workforce, ensuring high-skilled job opportunities go to American workers first." 

Trump's Tuesday remarks appear to seal this softening trajectory. He justified the visas with vivid examples from defense and energy sectors, where the U.S. faces acute shortages. "You can't take people off, like an unemployment line, and say, 'I'm going to put you into a factory. We're going to make missiles,'" he told Ingraham, highlighting the specialized skills required for battery production and missile guidance systems. 

"US doesn’t have certain talents, we have to bring in people," he added bluntly, framing H-1B as a national security imperative rather than a betrayal of his base's protectionist ideals. 

To Ingraham, he reiterated the talent crunch: "The United States needs to bring in foreign workers because it lacks 'talented people' [in key areas]." 

For Indian professionals, who comprise over 70% of H-1B recipients annually, the drama carries global stakes. Firms like Infosys and Wipro, major players in U.S. IT outsourcing, lobbied fiercely against the September fee, warning of disruptions to bilateral tech ties. 

Trump's endorsement could stabilise inflows, but the $100,000 hurdle – still in place for non-exempt applications – looms large ahead of the next visa lottery.As midterm elections approach, Trump's H-1B tightrope walk tests his coalition's unity. 

"There are certain skills you [just] can't teach overnight," he told Ingraham, blending urgency with defiance.