New Delhi: India has called out the double standards of the US and the European Union (EU), following President Donald Trump’s threat to raise tariffs due to New Delhi’s continuing purchase of Russian oil.
Trump’s latest threat was “unjustified and unreasonable”, India said, adding that it “will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.”
“India has been targeted by the United States and the European Union for importing oil from Russia after the commencement of the Ukraine conflict. In fact, India began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict. The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.
“In this background, the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.”
Jaiswal’s response comes after Trump’s latest outburst on his social media platform Truth Social asserting that India is “not only buying massive amounts of Russian oil” but selling the refined products on the open market for “big profits.”
Trump added: “They [India] do not 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.”
This is not the first time that Trump has threatened the imposition of additional penalties on India for the purchase of Russian oil. The American President had earlier promised a 25 percent tariff on India along with penalties that are till date unspecified. The 25 percent tariff rate is set to come into effect on 7 August.
The US President has long railed against India’s purchase of Russian oil, and has been pushing India to purchase more energy from the US. However, while New Delhi is willing to entertain the idea, it has maintained that it will continue to purchase at the best available price on the global market.
“India’s imports are meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer,” Jaiswal said, pointing out that for New Delhi such purchases are a “vital national compulsion.” The spokesperson further called out the duplicitous nature of both the US and the EU for continuing to trade with Russia that are not as important to their economies as the purchase of oil is for India.
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EU/US trade with Russia
The EU in 2024 had a bilateral trade in goods worth EUR 67.5 billion with Russia in addition to an estimated EUR 17.2 billion in services, the MEA pointed out. Further, Jaiswal highlighted that the trade between the EU and Russia was not just focussed on energy, but also on mining products, fertilisers, iron and steel and machinery products.
The EU last month unveiled its 18th sanctions package that took aim at a refinery in India that is partly owned by Rosneft, a Russian energy company. The latest EU sanctions also restricted the import of refined oil products from third countries based on Russian crude. Last year India exported roughly $16 billion worth of petroleum products to Europe as a whole, while around $13 billion was exported to the Netherlands in particular.
India has become the world’s second largest importer of Russian oil, importing roughly $56 billion worth of crude in the last financial year, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Before the war in Ukraine, Russia was not a top source of crude for India. However, given the imposition of the G7 price cap after Moscow started the current open conflict with Ukraine, the price of Russian oil fell below $60 a barrel. This gave India an opportunity to import cheap crude from Russia.
While in the early days, both the US and the EU applied pressure on India to stop its Russian purchases, the previous American administration led by President Joseph Biden eased off towards the end of his term.
Trump has in recent weeks pivoted to threatening Russia’s energy sales as his attempts to work for a ceasefire continued to flounder. The American President promised to end the war within 24 hours of assuming the presidency while on the campaign trail last year. However, almost eight months into his tenure, the war has continued to rage, while Russia has upped the intensity of its strikes aimed at Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.
The American president in the early days attempted to pressure Ukraine to accept a ceasefire, and almost succeeded when both Presidents Vladimir V. Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy had agreed to a partial ceasefire. However, within days the negotiations fell through. Trump’s early attempts to pressure Zelenskyy led to the public shouting match between the two at the White House earlier in the year.
Senator Lindsey Graham announced his intention to introduce a bill that would allow Trump to impose up to 500 percent of tariffs on countries continuing to purchase Russian oil linking the energy purchases to funding Moscow’s war machine.
However, Jaiswal pointed out that the US continues to maintain trade ties with Russia. The US imports “uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilizers as well as chemicals,” he said.
Officials from Trump’s administration, including Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, have criticised India’s continued purchase of Russian defence platforms, and called on New Delhi to purchase more American military equipment. Trump had called India and Russia “dead economies” last week in another outburst on Truth Social.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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