‘Want India To Buy Our Oil’: Trump’s Envoy Pick Cites Huge Middle Class, Signals Trade Deal Soon
US President Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, declared on Thursday that the administration wants to tap into India’s massive middle-class market by selling American crude oil and petroleum products to New Delhi. Speaking at his Senate confirmation hearing, Gor framed the ongoing trade negotiations as a key vehicle to achieve this, signaling a strong commercial focus in the bilateral relationship.
“We fully intend in these trade talks that are ongoing right now to open the markets to crude oil, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas,” Gor stated. He highlighted the immense potential of the Indian market, telling senators, “You’re talking about a population of 1.4 billion individuals there. Their middle class, by our definition, is larger than the entire United States of America. And so we have countless possibilities to expand into those markets, and we fully intend to do that.” While acknowledging that India’s past “protectionist policies and regulatory barriers” have been challenging, he also pointed to vast opportunities for collaboration in sectors from artificial intelligence to critical minerals.
Gor’s comments come at a delicate time, following weeks of diplomatic friction over US pressure on India to halt its oil purchases from Russia. The ambassador-designate, however, struck an optimistic and conciliatory tone, suggesting that a resolution to the trade disputes could be imminent. “We’re not that far apart on a deal on these tariffs. I do think it will get resolved in the next few weeks,” he said, adding that despite disagreements, the US-India relationship remains “warm and strategically important.”
The hearing appeared to be part of a broader reset in US-India ties. Relations had recently soured after the Trump administration slapped a 25% tariff on Indian goods, coupled with a punitive 25% duty linked to India’s Russian oil trade—a move India firmly rejected. However, President Trump has since softened his rhetoric, calling for renewed negotiations and highlighting his friendship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In an unusual gesture underscoring the relationship’s importance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced Gor to the Senate panel, stating, “India is one of the top relationships the United States has in the world today in terms of the future of what the world’s going to look like.”
