In a strongly worded statement, India has hit back at the US after President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on goods from India over its purchase of Russian oil, and said targeting it “is unjustified and unreasonable” when the criticising countries themselves “indulge in trade” with Moscow.
The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement, also countered the stance of the European Union for singling out Indian refiners over their exports of crude.
“India has been targeted by the United States and the European Union for importing oil from Russia after the commencement of the Ukraine conflict,” the MEA statement said.
Justifying its shift to Russia for crude, the government said that while India’s imports are “a necessity compelled by the global market situation”, the nations criticising it are themselves “indulging in trade with Russia”.
“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,” it said.
“India’s imports are meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer. They are a necessity compelled by global market situation. However, it is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion,” the statement said.
This comes after Trump threatened India yet again over its purchase of Russian oil, stating that the South Asian country doesn’t care for the lives lost in Ukraine.
“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits. They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA,” he said, without specifying what tariff level he had in mind.
His post comes days after his announcement that a 25 percent tariff would be imposed on goods imported from India.
In its response, India said the European Union in 2024 had a bilateral trade of Euro 67.5 billion in goods with Russia. In addition, it had trade in services estimated at Euro 17.2 billion in 2023.
“This is significantly more than India’s total trade with Russia that year or subsequently. European imports of LNG in 2024, in fact, reached a record 16.5mn tonnes, surpassing the last record of 15.21mn tonnes in 2022,” the statement said.
India said Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilisers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel, and machinery and transport equipment.
“Where the United States is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals,” it said.
“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,” the statement said.
India, the world’s third-largest crude importer after China and the US, historically bought most of its oil from the Middle East.
However, this changed following Russia’s decision to sell its oil at discounted rates after the West shunned it as punishment for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
India purchases up to 2 million barrels per day of oil, accounting for 2 percent of global supply.
Last week, Trump declared that the US has a massive trade deficit with India, accusing it of having the “most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any country”.
“While India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the world, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any country,” he said.
Later in the day, when he was asked about whether he was still open to a deal with India, the President had told reporters, “We are talking to them now. We will see what happens. India was the highest or just about the highest-tariff nation in the world… We will see. We are negotiating with India right now.”
