President Donald Trump has reiterated his threat to make India pay “massive” tariffs unless it stops buying Russian oil, repeating that India’s Prime Minister had assured him those purchases would stop.
“I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” President Trump told media on board Air Force 1, as quoted by Reuters. “But if they want to say that, then they’ll just continue to pay massive tariffs, and they don’t want to do that,” Trump also said, in response to a question about an official Indian government statement to the effect that there were no immediate plans to reduce Russian oil imports.
Last week, Reuters reported that some Indian refiners were preparing to start reducing their intake of Russian crude following President Trump’s remarks. In a separate report, Reuters cited Washington officials as claiming Indian importers had already slashed their imports of Russian crude by 50% although sources from India denied this. Bloomberg also chimed in, citing Indian energy sector executives as saying Indian imports of Russian crude were about to dip in the short term.
Earlier in the year, in an attempt to force India to stop buying Russian oil, President Trump slapped an additional 25% tariff on all Indian goods coming into the United States. At the time, the Modi government reacted sharply, noting there were energy security implications if Indian refiners stopped buying Russian oil.
Since then, India has repeatedly stated that its import decisions are driven singularly by considerations of energy security and external pressure was unlikely to change that. Indeed, after President Trump’s original remarks about PM Modi promising to stop buying Russian oil, the Indian government issued a statement to the effect that New Delhi was not aware of such a conversation taking place at all.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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