KEY POINTS
- Trump warns substantial tariff hike on Indian imports.
- India accused of profiting from Russian crude.
- White House official alleges India is financing Russia’s war through its energy trade with Moscow.
- India vows to keep buying Russian oil as tensions rise over trade.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Monday said that the United States will “substantially” raise tariffs on Indian imports over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump accused India of not only buying large volumes of Russian crude but also reselling it for profit, claiming this indirectly supports Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Trump last week said he would impose a 25 percent tariff on goods imported from India and added that the South Asian country would also face an unspecified penalty, but gave no details.
Later, Trump mounted a sharp attack and said, “I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.”
Over the weekend, two Indian government sources, cited by Reuters, said that India will keep purchasing oil from Russia despite Trump’s threats.
In turn, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller had accused India of effectively financing Russia’s war in Ukraine by purchasing oil from Moscow.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump assailed New Delhi for buying Russian oil and then selling it.
“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian oil, they are then, for much of the oil purchased, selling it on the open market for big profits,” Trump wrote.
“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,” the US president wrote.
India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, is the biggest buyer of seaborne Russian crude, a vital revenue earner for Russia.
The US levy on India exceeds those agreed by some other nations in deals with the Trump administration.
For example, the tariff on Vietnam is set at 20 percent and on Indonesia at 19 percent, with levies of 15 percent on Japanese and European Union exports.
Last week, Trump said Washington had reached a trade deal with Pakistan that Islamabad said would lead to lower tariffs on its exports.
Since India’s short but deadly conflict with Pakistan in May, New Delhi has been unhappy about Trump’s closeness with Islamabad and has protested, casting a shadow over trade talks.
Trump has repeatedly taken credit for the India-Pakistan ceasefire he announced on social media on May 10, but India disputes his claim.
By declaring the Indian economy dead in the water, Trump has put Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party in a bind.
Until recently, the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was canvassing support for the US president’s election.
Its supporters were holding special prayers and muttering mystical chants for Trump’s victory. There was at least one temple created where a sculptured image of Trump was worshipped.
But Trump has ignored the lavish praise and called out India’s energy imports from Russia and its tariff regime as non-negotiable.
The Indian government said it was trying to figure out a response by consulting all the “stakeholders”, a euphemism for angry businesses.
