External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said he was “very perplexed” by the United States imposing punitive tariffs on India for purchasing Russian oil, reported The Hindu.
This was so because it was Washington that had asked India to do “everything to stabilise” the global energy market, “including buying oil from Russia”, claimed Jaishankar, who was on a three-day visit to Russia.
The comments came amid diplomatic tensions between New Delhi and Washington after the Donald Trump administration on August 6 doubled the tariffs on goods imported from India to 50% for purchasing Russian oil amid the war in Ukraine.
Trump has repeatedly alleged that India’s purchases of Russian oil were “fuelling the war machine”.
“We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian oil,” Jaishankar was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. “That is China. We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian LNG, I am not sure, but I think that is the European Union.”
The minister added: “We also buy oil from America, and that amount has been increasing. So quite honestly, we are very perplexed at the logic of the argument.”
Jaishankar made the remarks during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
On Thursday, Jaishankar also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. He is the second top Indian official to meet the Russian leader this month, following National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on August 7, The Hindu reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Putin are also expected to meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Leaders’ Summit, which will be held from August 31 to September 1 in China’s Tianjin.
The US’ doubling of the levies had come a week after Trump announced a 25% levy on Indian goods as part of the so-called reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries that have not finalised separate trade agreements with the US.
In response, New Delhi had said that it was “extremely unfortunate” that the US had chosen to impose additional levies on India “for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest”.
“We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,” said a Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson. “India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests.”
Negotiators from both countries had completed a fifth round of talks in Washington last month. However, the next round, scheduled for August 25 in New Delhi, was abruptly cancelled, Reuters reported.
On Monday, White House trade adviser and economist Peter Navarro, in a column for The Financial Times, alleged that India’s increase in Russian oil imports was driven by “profiteering by India’s Big Oil lobby” and not “domestic oil consumption needs”.
On Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reiterated the claim that some of India’s richest families were profiteering from New Delhi buying and reselling cheap Russian oil.
In an interview with CNBC, Bessent also claimed that India’s imports of Russian oil had jumped from less than 1% before the Ukraine war, which began in February 2022, to 42%. The transactions have resulted in Indian businesses earning an estimated $16 billion in excess profits, he claimed.
Bessent defended Washington’s decision not to impose a penalty on China, claiming that Beijing’s purchases from Russia had risen modestly from 13% to 16% since the war started, as opposed to India.
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