Trump’s Statement on Russian Oil Indicates Possible Lifting of Penalty Tariffs
Trump told reporters that he had received assurances from Modi that India would halt its purchases "within a short period of time", which he called "a big stop"
Chennai: Indicating that the US and India were moving closer to a trade deal, US President Donald Trump said that he has received assurances from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on halting Russian oil purchases. Such an assurance can be pointed out as a reason for lifting the penalty tariffs on India before reaching a deal.
Trump told reporters that he had received assurances from Modi that India would halt its purchases "within a short period of time", which he called "a big stop".
"So I was not happy that India was buying oil, and he (Modi) assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia," Trump told reporters during a White House event.
The Russian oil imports are key to a trade deal as India will not benefit from the deal without the US withdrawing the 25 per cent penalty tariffs. The US negotiators too have maintained that curbing Russian purchases would be crucial to sealing a trade deal with a lower reciprocal tariff rate of probably 16 -18 per cent.
Though the Indian government has not officially asked the state-run refiners to stop import of Russian oil, the imports have been coming down in the past few months. The state-owned refiners have trimmed Russian oil purchases by more than 45 per cent between June and September this year, according to Kpler. Meanwhile, private refiners like Reliance Industries and Russia’s Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy have increased imports.
Reacting to Trump’s statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said:"our consistent priority is to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer in a volatile energy scenario. Our import policies are guided entirely by this objective".
Meanwhile, Russia too reacted to the statement saying that it was confident its energy partnership with India would continue. "We continue to cooperate with our friendly partners," Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.
While Trump’s statement has put the Indian government in a diplomatic dilemma, the opposition too has trained its guns on it. In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi wrote, “PM Modi is frightened of Trump… allows Trump to decide and announce that India will not buy Russian oil…”.
