US President Donald Trump has made a series of accusations on India, for New Delhi’s relations with Russia. He has imposed additional 25 per cent tariffs on India for purchasing the Russian oil, thereby escalating the total tariffs on India to a massive 50 per cent. New Delhi-Moscow bonhomie has also irked Trump and has accused India and Russia as ‘dead economy’.
Well, these statements by the American President do not correspond with the facts. Global trends on trade with Russia speak differently and testify the fact that accusations made by Trump are completely baseless. US President imposing huge tariffs on India for oil purchase from Russia also doesn’t align with the established principles of fair and reasonable trade practices.
Baseless Accusations Uttered by Trump
On August 4 Trump unfairly accused India for importing the Russian oil. “India is not only buying massive amount of the 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. I will be substantially raising the tariff paid by India to the USA”, Trump wrote on his Truth social media post. Thereby Trump imposed additional 25% tariffs on India taking the total tariffs to 50%.
India Asserts Evidence based Response
Soon after the baseless accusations made by Trump, India responded strongly and firmly with solid evidence and facts. Statement from the Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) said, “The United States has in recent days targeted India’s oil imports from Russia. We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact that our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India”.
“It is therefore extremely unfortunate that the US chose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest. We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”, statement by MEA added.
Meanwhile, India also exposed the global trade realities and highlighted the fact that India is neither the only buyer of the Russian oil nor the largest importer. Instead, New Delhi’s purchases from Moscow are limited to oil and few other commodities unlike many western nations who import oil, natural gas and numerous other strategic commodities from Russia at a massive scale, multiple times higher than the Indian purchases.
MEA statement reiterated various facts that unveiled the US double standards regarding imports from Russia.
- India began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
- During the initial days of Russia-Ukraine war, US Infact actively encouraged Indian oil imports from Russia in order to ensure the stability of global energy markets against all the volatilities because of the price cap, import restrictions, supply chain disruptions and the resultant rise in oil prices.
- Reality is, the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia though it is not inevitable for them to do trade with Russia in order to meet the energy and national security dynamics unlike India.
- United States imports various strategic and critical minerals from Russia such as uranium hexafluoride that are vital for its nuclear industry. It also purchases palladium for its EV industry, fertilizers and other crucial chemicals.
- Even Europe continuous to import oil and LNG from Russia. Not just that, it even imports fertilizers, mining products, chemicals, iron & steel, machinery and transport equipments from Moscow in a large-scale.
- In 2024, European Union-Russia bilateral trade stood at Euro 67.5 billion. Europe’s trade in services with Russia stood at Euro 17.2 billion in 2023. This is significantly more than India’s total trade with Russia.
- Europe’s Liquefied Natural Gas(LNG) imports from Russia in 2024 also reached a record quantity of 16.5mn tonnes. This is the highest LNG import of Europe from Russia compared to its own previous purchase records. Also, EU is the largest importer of natural gas from Russia.
With these strong and solid facts India firmly rebuked Trump’s accusations on India’s oil purchase from Russia and New Delhi sponsoring Moscow’s war in Ukraine as “unfair and unreasonable”. As per Trump’s claim, if India is indirectly fueling Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, then indeed the US and Europe is also supporting Russian invasion of Ukraine by trading with Moscow. Both the basket of commodities and the scale of purchase by the US and Europe with Russia is multiple times higher than that of India.
Is Indian Oil Purchase from Russia Adhered to Energy Market Rules?
India’s oil purchase from Russia is completely legal and New Delhi is adhered to the global energy trade norms and market rules.
- It is Legal to Purchase Russian oil
Firstly, there is no blanket restriction from purchasing the Russian oil unlike with Iran or Venezuela. It’s only the price cap that’s been imposed. So, it’s completely legal to purchase the Russian oil and every country is doing it based on the market trends and respective national interests.
- Bound by the Price Cap
New Delhi is also bound by the price cap mechanism imposed by the G-7 on Russian oil. India purchases oil at a fair price which is below the threshold inflicted by the G-7. New Delhi is not purchasing the Russian oil at high and unrealistic prices thus not rendering a massive profit to Moscow thereby not fueling its war efforts in Ukraine. India’s oil purchases are completely based on the prices fixed by the global energy market mechanisms.
- India’s Basket of Commodities is limited
India has always adopted the principle of multi-alignment and has diversified its import basket. It procures all the necessary goods and services from a diverse set of trading partners with the foremost goal of acquiring the best from the market and to secure its national interests. India’s trade is not tilted or completely aligned with few trading blocs.
India purchases only limited quantity of crude oil from Russia. It never purchased refined petroleum products from Russia. Its purchase of LNG is also very minimal. India purchases major chunk of oil from other countries as well such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and UAE. With respect to other critical and strategic minerals India has a wide range of trading partners across the globe such as China, Germany, UK, UAE, Indonesia etc.
This is in sharp contrast to European countries who import huge quantities of oil and natural gas from Russia through pipeline. Even US is heavily dependent on Russia for many strategic minerals. For example, as of 2024, US imported fertilizers from Russia worth USD 1 billion. Its non-ferrous metal purchases from Russia stood at USD 876.5 million.
India is Steering the Stability of Global Energy Market
Analysts of the global energy market trends, exclaim that if India halts purchasing the Russian oil it will massively destabilize the global energy market, leading to price volatility. Prices could reach upto USD 200 per barrel. In 2022, US officials said, “happy for India to keep buying oil and stabilizing the global markets. India helped prevent a global oil price hike”. Thus, India is indeed acting as a responsible global player in stabilizing the energy market.
Why is Trump Targeting India?
Despite adhering to global energy market rules, doing comparatively less purchases from Russia than many western countries and most importantly aiding to keep the energy market under stable conditions, why is Trump repeatedly attacking India for importing oil from Moscow and not targeting EU or China who has higher trade relations with Russia.
Trump might be irked as India didn’t acknowledge and strongly refuted Trump’s role in ending India-Pakistan conflict during Operation Sindoor. US President might have also been irritated as New Delhi is firm on its national interests in the trade negotiations with the US. India didn’t render the trade concessions demanded by the US and unequivocally stood to protect the Indian agricultural, dairy and related sector, though the US is seeking more exceptions to enter India’s agricultural and dairy market.
India thus evidently exposed the baseless allegations made by Donald Trump on Indian oil purchases from Russia. New Delhi also stands as a credible and transparent global player in conjuncture with securing its national interests and not bowing down to any external pressure.
