US President Donald Trump announced his intention to significantly increase tariffs on imports from India due to its active trade in Russian oil. 'India is not just buying a huge amount of Russian oil — a significant portion of this oil is then resold on the open market at a large profit. They don't care how many people in Ukraine are killed by the Russian military machine. In this regard, I will significantly increase the tariffs that India pays the US,' Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He also stated that 'India has always purchased the overwhelming majority of its military equipment from Russia and is the largest buyer of energy resources from the Russian Federation along with China, while everyone wants Russia to stop the killings in Ukraine — all this is not good.'
India has become the world's largest buyer of Russian oil exported by sea, buying oil at a discount and increasing its purchases from a few percent to about a third of its imports.
On July 30, Trump announced to New Delhi the introduction of a 25 percent tariff on the import of Indian goods to the US.
Today, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller stated that, according to the US president, India is financing the conflict in Ukraine by buying Russian oil.
Meanwhile, as Reuters writes, India is increasing its oil purchases from other producers, primarily in the US and the Middle East, despite official statements about continuing purchases of Russian oil. India's largest oil refining company Indian Oil Corp (IOC) acquired 7 million barrels of crude oil for delivery in September from the US, Canada, and the Middle East, several sources told the agency.