- India ignores Ukraine deaths caused by Russian aggression: Trump.
- Trump hits India's oil trade as feeding the Russian war machine.
- I will be substantially raising the rate that India pays to us, says Trump.
President Donald Trump “substantially” threatened the American tariffs of India's assets for their purchases of Russian oil, a key source of income for the Moscow war in Ukraine.
Moscow anticipates conversations with the special envoy of the American leader Steve Witkoff, who is expected to meet President Vladimir Putin this week.
On Monday, Trump said in a publication to his social platform of truth that India was “buying large amounts of Russian oil” and selling it for “great profits.”
“They don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian war machine,” Trump added.
“Because of this, I will substantially increase the rate paid by India to the United States.”
But he did not provide details about the rate of rate he had in mind.
A day before, a main assistant for President Trump accused India of effectively financing the Russian war in Ukraine buying oil from Moscow.
“What he (Trump) said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war buying the oil of Russia,” said Stephen Miller, deputy director of Cabinet of the White House and one of Trump's most influential assistants.
“People will be surprised to know that India is basically linked to China in the purchase of Russian oil. That is a surprising fact,” Miller said in the “Futures of Fox Morning” of Fox News.
India criticism 'unjustified'
Meanwhile, India has rejected the “unjustified and unreasonable orientation of the Nation to import oil from Russia after the beginning of the Ukraine conflict.
“Like any important economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard their national interests and economic security,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal, in a statement.
In the statement, the spokesman said that India began to import from Russia because traditional supplies deviated to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict. “United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India to strengthen the worldwide stability of energy markets,” he said.
In addition, Jaiswal said, India imports are destined to guarantee “predictable and affordable energy costs” for the Indian consumer.
“However, it is revealing that the same nations that criticize India are dedicating themselves to trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion,” he said.
Pointing out the EU trade and the United States with Russia, he said that Europe-Russia trade includes not only energy, but also fertilizers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel and machinery and transport equipment.
“With regard to the United States, it continues to import the Uranium Hexafluoruro of Russia for its nuclear industry, Palladium for its EV industry, fertilizers and chemicals,” he added.
'Dead economies'
Previously, on July 31, President Trump attacked India and Russia for trade, saying that he didn't care what he did to any of them.
“I don't care what India does with Russia. They can lead to their dead economies together, for everything that matters to me,” President Trump said in an X publication.
“We have done very few issues with India, its tariffs are too high, among the highest in the world,” added the president.
The scathing comments follow Trump's previous statement, where he said that Washington and New Delhi were in the process of negotiating a commercial agreement.
The 25%tariff, as well as an un specified penalty, would force relations with the most populous democracy in the world.
The 25% figure would highlight India more severely than other important commercial partners, and threaten to unravel months of conversations between the two countries, undermining a strategic partner of Washington and a counterweight to China.
In response to the 25% rate position by Trump, the Indian government said he was studying the implications of Trump's ads and remained dedicated to ensuring a fair trade agreement.
With respect to Trump's threat, what would be the penalty is not yet clear. Initially, the president of the United States had indicated that it was for India that bought Russian weapons and oil, and its non -monetary commercial barriers.
When asked about the penalty in the White House, he said that commercial problems were partly due and partly due to the participation of India in the BRICS of developing nations, which described as hostile to the United States in July said that the United States will impose an additional 10% rate in any country that aligns with the “anti-state policies” of the BRICs.
– With additional contributions from Reuters
