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US President Donald Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro—who made headlines for his recent vitriolic comments against India for its trade relationship with Russia—might have been behind the new H-1B visa policy, a congressman said on Monday.

This follows Trump’s announcement on Friday hiking the annual fee for H-1B visas to $100,000.

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Following backlash, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarified that the huge amount was only a one-time payment, and that existing H-1B visa holders would not be affected—even if they were outside the US when the policy went into force (Sunday).

Democratic Congressman for Sacramento, Ami Bera, criticised the new visa policy nevertheless, saying that it would worsen India-US ties.

“I don’t agree with the policy because it’s actually going to hurt American companies. These are workers who are filling vital roles and positions. Hiking visa fees to $100,000 is unheard of for something like this,” Bera said in an Indian Express interview.

“It sounds like something Peter Navarro would come up with,” the Indian-origin Congressman added, criticising the implementation of the new policy without sufficient warning, and the changes made to it after the backlash.

Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro has so far called India the “maharaja of tariffs”, a vampire, and Russia’s laundromat, over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian energy, which he felt contributed to the Russia-Ukraine war.

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“They use that money to buy Russian oil, and then the Russians use that to buy weapons. And then we as taxpayers, have to pay more for this, for the defence of Ukraine. And so how can that be?” he questioned, at one point.

One of his viral statements against India has even been fact-checked by netizens on X, leading users to question his statements.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has since rejected Navarro’s statements, calling them “unacceptable”.

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Amid these India-US trade tensions, Union Trade Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday (US time) will continue talks for a long-pending trade deal from Washington.