Trump Threatens Higher Tariffs On India Over Russian Oil Imports

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to raise tariffs on Indian goods if New Delhi does not further cut its purchases of Russian oil, escalating pressure on the South Asian country as bilateral trade negotiations remain stalled.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump adopted a personal tone toward Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying, “(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi is a good guy. He knew I was not happy, and it was important to make me happy.”

Trump warned that trade retaliation could follow swiftly if Washington’s demands are not met.
“They do trade, and we can raise tariffs on them very quickly,” he said, when asked about India’s continued imports of Russian crude.

The renewed warning comes after months of inconclusive talks, following Washington’s decision last year to double tariffs on Indian imports to 50%, explicitly citing India’s large-scale purchases of Russian oil despite Western sanctions imposed since the start of the Ukraine war.

Roughly half of those duties are directly linked to India’s energy trade with Russia.

US officials argue that discounted Russian crude continues to reach global markets through a sanctions-evasion network known as the “shadow fleet,” involving tankers with opaque ownership, ship-to-ship transfers, and alternative insurance arrangements designed to obscure the origin of oil cargoes.

Washington has intensified enforcement in recent months, sanctioning dozens of vessels accused of transporting Russian oil outside the G7 price-cap regime.

Analysts say these practices complicate claims of compliance even when refiners formally reduce direct purchases.

Financial markets reacted nervously to Trump’s remarks. On Monday, India’s information technology stocks fell sharply, with the sector index dropping about 2.5% to its lowest level in more than a month, as investors feared renewed trade tensions could further delay a long-anticipated US-India trade agreement.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who was traveling with Trump, said US sanctions on Russian energy firms combined with higher tariffs on India had already reduced Indian oil imports.

Graham is backing legislation that would authorize tariffs of up to 500% on countries that continue buying Russian oil.

“If you are buying cheap Russian oil, (you) keep Putin’s war machine going,” Graham said. “We are trying to give the President ability to make that a hard choice by tariffs.”

Graham added that Trump’s actions had pushed India to buy “substantially less Russian oil.”