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Donald Trump said he planned to “substantially” raise tariffs on imports from India because of its purchases of Russian oil, in a new escalation of tensions between Washington and New Delhi.
The president’s warning comes after India failed to reach an agreement with the White House to secure lower levies on its exports to America last week, unlike other top US trading partners including the EU.
It also comes as Trump has threatened to crack down more aggressively on Russia’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine as he struggles to broker a settlement of the conflict.
“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits. They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine,” the US president wrote on Truth Social on Monday.
“Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA,” he said.
Washington last week said it would impose a 25 per cent tariff on India out of frustration with the Modi government but New Delhi has refused to change its policy on Russian oil purchases.
The stand-off reflects an extraordinary deterioration in relations between Trump and Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, in recent weeks.
Washington increasingly sees India as a pivotal strategic partner. In February, the two countries announced plans for a new 10-year defence partnership but the draft agreement has yet to be signed.
Senior Trump officials had long touted India as one of the large trading partners that was closest to reach a pact on tariffs with the US. However a deal never materialised, even after a high profile visit to India by JD Vance, the vice-president, earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Trump’s involvement in the India-Pakistan conflict in May, after which he claimed to have brokered a ceasefire, soured relations between the two countries.
“So much for the bromance between Modi and Trump and the ostensibly close relationship between two budding geopolitical allies,” said Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy and economics at Cornell University.
“This is a tough and painful setback for India, which had come close to securing a phased trade deal and had been anticipating significant trade and investment benefits from being seen as a geopolitical ally of the US,” he added.
