U.S. President Donald Trump has again attacked India for persisting with its oil business with Russia, threatening more tariffs as a penalty.
In a statement posted on his social media site Truth Social, Trump claimed that India was not only buying large amounts of Russian oil but also selling some of it on for a considerable profit.
"India is not just purchasing huge quantities of Russian Oil, they are subsequently, for most of the Oil they have bought, selling it on the Open Market for tremendous profits. They do not care how many are being slaughtered in Ukraine by the Russian War Machine," he stated.
Trump went on to say, "Because of this, I will be substantially increasing the Tariff paid by India to the USA," although he did not provide actual details on the figure involved in the proposed hike.
This announcement followed his earlier declaration of a tariff of 25 percent on Indian imports, along with the mention of another but unspecified penalty. No explanation was, however, provided on the nature or extent of this penalty measure.
In spite of the aggressive rhetoric, Indian government sources informed NDTV that the effect of the tariffs on the Indian economy would be negligible. "The loss of GDP will not be more than 0.2 per cent," they said.
The sources also asserted that India's procurement policy for oil is premised on "national interests and market forces" and affirmed that buying from Russia will not come to an end.
Trump's remarks come after his increasing frustration with Russia for not agreeing to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine. He also threatened to impose additional sanctions in case no diplomatic breakthrough takes place.
India, the world's third-largest crude oil importer, after China and the United States, historically based its oil imports from the Middle East. With Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Western subsequent sanctions, though, Moscow started discounting oil, which led to India changing its supply strategy.
At a Washington press briefing earlier this year, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar justified the nation's Russian oil imports by pointing to the gap with Europe's use. "India's entire oil purchase from Russia for a month is likely to be less than what Europe does in an afternoon," he told reporters.
India now imports approximately 2 million barrels of oil on a daily basis, adding approximately 2 percent to worldwide crude supply. China and Turkey are also major purchasers of Russian oil.
Trump also revived trade imbalance worries, complaining of India's trading habits. Last week, he asserted America has a huge deficit in its trade with India and shot at what he called protectionist policies.
"While India is a friend of ours, we have done comparatively little business with them over the years because their tariffs are much too high, among the very highest in the world, and they possess the most arduous and objectionable non-monetary Trade Barriers of any nation," he said.
