India on Monday defended its energy trade with Russia after U.S. President Donald Trump accused New Delhi of profiting from discounted Russian oil and threatened higher tariffs. In a sharp statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said India’s imports ensure affordable energy for its citizens and called the targeting by the U.S. and EU “unjustified and unreasonable.”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, said the Ministry of External Affairs in a statement.ALSO READ: US to ‘substantially’ raise tariff on India, says Trump, accuses New Delhi of profiting from selling Russian oil”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.””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.”Live EventsHowever, it is “revealing” that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia, MEA said. “Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion.””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.”Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilizers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel and machinery and transport equipment, MEA said.Where the United States is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilizers as well as chemicals, it added.Trump’s latest tariff threat In a fresh trade threat against India, President Donald Trump on Monday said he will “substantially” raise US tariffs on New Delhi, accusing it of buying massive amounts of Russian oil and selling it for big profits.Last week, the Trump administration slapped a 25 per cent duty on all Indian goods. The US president also announced a penalty for buying “vast majority” of Russian military equipment and crude oil, but no mention was made in the notification.”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,” Trump said in a social media post on Monday.”They don’t 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,” he added.India’s import of crude oil from Russia has risen from 0.2 per cent of total purchases before the Russia-Ukraine war to 35-40 per cent. New Delhi is the largest buyer of Russian oil after China.On August 1, Trump signed an Executive Order titled ‘Further Modifying The Reciprocal Tariff Rates’, raising tariffs for over five dozen countries, including a steep 25 per cent for India.The executive order, however, did not mention the “penalty” that Trump had said India will have to pay because of its purchases of Russian military equipment and energy.White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, in an interview to Fox News Sunday, stated that President Trump has said very clearly that “it is not acceptable for India to continue financing” the Ukraine war by purchasing oil from Russia.Last week, Trump mounted a sharp attack on India and Russia for their close ties and said the two countries can take their “dead economies down together”, a remark which prompted New Delhi to say that India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy.Declaring that the US has a massive trade deficit with India, Trump had said that 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.”Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of energy, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to stop the killing in Ukraine — All things not good!” Trump had said.These announcements are being seen as a pressure tactic to get New Delhi to agree to demands made by the US in the proposed trade agreement with India. The US is seeking duty concessions for its agriculture, dairy and genetically modified (GM) foods. India is against giving any concessions in these sectors as they involve the livelihood of millions of small and marginalised farmers.
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