U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed India's comments referring to continued American trade with Russia, amid Washington's criticism of New Delhi's economic relationships with Moscow.
Asked by a journalist about India's comments, Trump said, "I don't know anything about it, I'd have to check, but we'll get back to you on that."
Last week, the U.S. President imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports, threatening even higher penalties from August 1. The move, while bilateral negotiations for a settlement continue, is mainly to do with India's defence and energy deals with Russia. Trump also threatened to raise the tariff rate, accusing India of being "Russia's largest buyer of energy, along with China."
India has responded by strongly countering these actions. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal emphasized Washington's own imports from Russia by saying, "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."
Quoting this, New Delhi termed Trump's criticism as "unjustified and unreasonable," and reiterated its determination to ensure its national interests and economic priorities.
While Trump's criticism persists, where he has blamed India for "fuelling the war machine" by trading with Moscow, Indian-American Republican leader Nikki Haley has come out openly in support of India. Posting her thoughts on social media platform X, Haley referred to India as a "strong ally" and urged consistency of policy.
"India shouldn't be importing oil from Russia. But China, an enemy and leading purchaser of Russian and Iranian oil, received a 90-day tariff reprieve. Don't let China get by and torch a relationship with a good ally like India," she tweeted.
While Trump seemed to soften his previous threats of a 100% tariff against nations buying Russian energy, saying, "I never said a percentage, but we'll be doing quite a bit of that. We'll see what happens over the next fairly short period of time. But we will see what happens." His remarks came close to a month since he mentioned secondary tariffs against nations that are trading with Russia, also calling for a 50-day window to stop the war in Ukraine.
In defiance of Washington's growing pressure, reports do not suggest that the Indian government has made any orders to reduce imports from Russia. New Delhi has repeatedly asserted that its import of oil and defence equipment is guided by practical, strategic, and economic considerations.
Scoffing at continued criticism, Jaiswal reaffirmed India's stance last week by saying, "The procurement of defence requirement is decided entirely by our national security compulsions and strategic considerations. Likewise, the procurement of our energy requirements.we are driven by what is locally available in the markets and by extant international conditions."
He also clarified that India's foreign policy cannot be viewed in the context of a third country.
Based on figures from Reuters, India's Russian oil imports for 2024–25 amounted to $50.2 billion. The purchases jumped after Western sanctions imposed on Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine enabled India to capitalize on discounted energy supplies.
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