Donald Trump has claimed that India is no longer buying oil from Russia, presenting it as a significant loss for Vladimir Putin. Trump’s comments were made amid escalating trade tensions, following the US imposing a 50% tariff on Indian goods. This tariff was directly linked to India’s ongoing oil trade with Russia, which Trump said would be subject to penalties. The statements were made before a meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska, which reportedly did not yield any major breakthroughs.
In a Fox News interview, Trump highlighted that Russia had lost India as a major oil customer. He further suggested that if he needed to impose secondary sanctions, he would, emphasizing the potentially devastating impact on Russia. Even with the threat of tariffs, India continued to import Russian oil. These imports comprise approximately 35-40% of India’s total oil imports.
Prior to the Alaska summit, Trump had hinted at the possibility of further tariffs on India if the meeting with Putin failed to produce results. Consequently, concerns arose regarding the potential for future tariff increases, particularly after the summit’s inconclusive outcome. Earlier, on August 6th, Trump had announced an additional 25% tariff on India, citing the country’s oil purchases from Russia. This addition followed an initial 25% tariff announced on July 30th. This brought the total US tariff on Indian goods to 50%. The extra 25% tariff is scheduled to be applied on August 27th. India has accused the US and the European Union of unfairly targeting it, despite their own ongoing import of crucial goods from Russia.