New Delhi: Ahead of the India–EU free trade agreement (FTA) announcement, the US doubled down on its allegations that New Delhi’s oil trade with Russia finances the Ukraine war.
“We have put 25 percent tariffs on India for buying Russian oil. Guess what happened last week? The Europeans signed a trade deal with India,” US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview Sunday, referring to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s tweet two days ago that the two sides are close to finalising the ‘mother of all trade deal.’
The European countries, according to Bessent, were financing a war “against themselves” by purchasing refined Russian oil products from India.
The Trump administration last year imposed a 50 percent tariff on India to pressure it to reduce Russian crude imports, a move that led to India’s oil purchases from America increasing by 40-50 percent in the current financial year.
“Just to be clear again, the Russian oil goes into India, the refined products come out, and the Europeans buy the refined products. They are financing the war against themselves,” Bessent said, adding that under US President Donald Trump’s leadership, “we will eventually end” the Russia-Ukraine war.
The American President earlier negotiated a settlement on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Bessent noted, adding that the US has made “much bigger sacrifices” than the Europeans.
On Tuesday, India and the EU announced the conclusion of negotiations and finalisation of the trade agreement, aimed at increasing economic ties between the two regions at a time of disruption due to US tariffs. The talks had begun in 2007.
The pact follows years of negotiations that gained urgency amid global trade disruptions triggered by Trump’s tariff policies. Under the agreement, India will eliminate tariffs on nearly 97 percent of EU exports. The agreement is expected to create one of the world’s largest free-trade markets, covering goods traded between nearly two billion people.
The two sides also signed a strategic defence partnership and announced the launch of talks on intelligence sharing, signalling a broader strategic realignment in India-EU relations.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is currently in India and was a chief guest at the 77th Republic Day celebrations, termed the EU-India FTA as the “mother of all deals”.
Bessent ‘s comments came amid the leaked audio recording of Republican Party Senator Ted Cruz in which he said it was the White House that’s been blocking a deal with India.
The leaked audio, reported by news outlet Axios, are on Cruz’s phone calls with donors, in which he could be heard saying that he and several other Republicans tried to persuade Trump not to impose tariffs on countries in April last year.
It was during this announcement that Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on India and later doubled to 50 percent in August. In October, the US President told reporters at a White House event that PM Modi assured him that India would stop purchasing oil from Russia.
“So I was not happy that India was buying oil, and he (Modi) assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia,” Trump said. “That’s a big step. Now we’re going to get China to do the same thing.”
As of late 2025, India and China are the two largest buyers of Russian seaborne crude, capitalising on discounted rates since Western sanctions were imposed on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia, according to energy trade data, remained India’s top oil supplier in September, exporting around 1.62 million barrels per day which is roughly one-third of the country’s total crude imports.
(Edited by Tony Rai)