MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal(L), US President Donald Trump
Credit: PTI, Reuters Photo
New Delhi: India on Wednesday vowed to protect its national interest after United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional tariff of 25% on the South Asian nation for buying oil from Russia.
The Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi stated that it was “extremely unfortunate” that the US had decided to impose additional tariffs on India “for actions that several other countries” were also taking “in their own national interests”. It noted that the US actions against India were “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
“India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said in New Delhi after the new US tariff was announced from Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
With no breakthrough yet on the negotiations on the proposed trade deal between New Delhi and Washington, D.C., Trump had on July 30 announced a 25% tariff on all goods exported by India to the US on July 30. He had also slammed New Delhi for buying defence hardware and energy from Russia, despite the former Soviet Union nation’s special military operations in Ukraine. He followed it up on July 31 by calling India’s economy ‘dead’ and even announced a trade deal with its neighbour and arch-rival Pakistan. He, however, said on August 1 that he had heard that India would take a “good step” and stop buying crude oil from Russia. New Delhi, however, did not confirm or deny any move on its part to stop buying hydrocarbons from Russia.
Trump on Wednesday moved to levy an additional 25% on all US imports from India, thus totalling the tariff at 50%.
“We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact that our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India,” Jaiswal said on Wednesday, reiterating that these actions by the US on India were “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests, he added.
New Delhi had on August 4 responded to the latest broadside from the White House, arguing that the US itself had encouraged India to buy oil from Russia after the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, because such purchases had then helped stabilise global energy markets.
Jaiswal had said on Monday that India’s imports had been meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the consumers of India. They had been a necessity compelled by the global market situation. “However, it is revealing that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion,” he had said on Monday.
The European Union in 2024 had a bilateral trade of Euro 67.5 billion in goods with Russia. In addition, it had trade in services estimated at Euro 17.2 billion in 2023. This is significantly more than India’s total trade with Russia that year or subsequently. European imports of LNG in 2024 reached a record 16.5mn tonnes, surpassing the last record of 15.21mn tonnes in 2022, New Delhi had argued, adding: “Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilisers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel and machinery and transport equipment.”
New Delhi had on August 4 also turned the tables on the Trump administration, pointing out that the US had continued to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals.