Trump threatens to raise tariffs to punish India for buying oil from Russia, New Delhi turns tables on US & Europe

New Delhi: Just days after levying a 25% duty on all goods from India, United States President Donald Trump on Monday again threatened to substantially raise the tariff on imports from the South Asian nation, accusing it of buying energy from Russia without caring for the people being killed in Ukraine.

Trump accused India of not only buying oil from Russia but also selling it in the open market and making huge profits.

New Delhi responded to the latest broadside from the White House, arguing that it was the US which had encouraged India to buy oil from Russia after the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, because such purchases helped stabilise global energy markets.

“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian oil, but they are (also) then, for much of the oil purchased, selling it on the open market for big profits,” the 47^th US president posted on Truth Social on Monday. “They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine. Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA.”

Targeting India for buying oil from Russia was “unjustified and unreasonable”, Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said in New Delhi, reacting to the newest tariff threat from the US president. “Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.”  

Trump’s close aide, Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff at the White House, had said on Sunday that India had tied up with China in purchasing oil from Russia and thus financing the former Soviet Union nation’s “special military operations” in Ukraine. “What he (Trump) said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia...People will be shocked to learn that India is basically tied with China in purchasing oil from Russia. That's an astonishing fact,” Miller had told Fox News.

Earlier, on July 30, while announcing a 25% tariff on all goods exported by India to the US, Trump 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 Thursday by calling India’s economy ‘dead’ and even announced a trade deal with its neighbour and arch-rival Pakistan. He, however, said on Friday 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. “We make decisions based on the price at which oil is available in the international market, and depending on the global situation at that time,” Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the MEA, told journalists in New Delhi on Friday.

Despite drawing flak from Washington, D.C., and the rest of the West, India not only continued its trade with Russia, defying the sanctions imposed by the US and the EU on the former Soviet Union nation after the launch of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. India also raised its hydrocarbon imports from Russia.

India’s purchase of oil from Russia rose from 2.1% of its total imports in 2021-22 to 35.10% in 2024-25. The three biggest buyers of Russian fossil fuels, China (EUR 78 bn), India (EUR 49 bn), and Turkey (EUR 34 bn) were responsible for 74% of Russia’s total revenues from fossil fuels in the third year of the war in Ukraine, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

“India’s imports are meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer. They are 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,” Jaiswal 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, in fact, reached a record 16.5mn tonnes, surpassing the last record of 15.21mn tonnes in 2022, New Delhi pointed out, adding: Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilisers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel and machinery and transport equipment. Where the US is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers, as well as chemicals, Jaiswal pointed out, turning the tables on the West.

Trump’s other close aide and the director of the American National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, recently said that the US president had got frustrated with the progress of the negotiations for a trade deal with India.

The negotiations for a trade deal got stuck with New Delhi not yielding to the Trump Administration’s pressure to lower tariffs on the import of farm and dairy products from the US. Washington, D.C., also refused to accept New Delhi’s demand to lower tariffs on the export of textiles and leather products from India to the US.