Trump Threatens to Hike India Tariffs “Substantially” in 24 Hours Over Russian Oil Buys
US President Donald Trump has threatened a dramatic escalation in the trade standoff with India, declaring his intention to raise tariffs “very substantially” within the next 24 hours over New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil.
Accusing India of being a difficult trading partner, Trump doubled down on his criticism that India is profiting from Russian crude while the war in Ukraine rages on.
Speaking to CNBC, the US President was blunt in his assessment. “They have the highest tariff of anybody. We settled on 25% but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours because they’re buying Russian oil. They’re fueling the war machine,” Trump said, adding, “We do little business with India.
They do a lot of business with us.” This threat follows his earlier announcement of 25% tariffs and a fiery post on his social media platform, Truth Social, where he accused India of buying “massive amounts of Russian oil” and reselling it “on the open market for big profits.”
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has hit back with a forceful rebuttal, calling the accusations “unjustified and unreasonable.” The MEA argued that India only turned to Russian crude after Western nations redirected traditional energy supplies for their own needs following the Ukraine crisis, a move the MEA claims the US initially encouraged to stabilize global markets.
Highlighting what it termed as Western hypocrisy, the ministry pointed to the European Union’s significant trade with Russia, which included €67.5 billion in goods and record imports of Russian liquefied natural gas in 2024. The MEA also noted that the United States itself continues to import critical materials like uranium hexafluoride and palladium from Moscow. In its statement, the MEA made it clear that “like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.”
