United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “not that happy” with him because of the tariffs imposed by Washington on New Delhi for purchasing Russian oil, PTI reported.
Speaking at the House GOP Member Retreat, Trump claimed that the tariffs had prompted New Delhi to reduce its imports from Russia.
“Prime Minister Modi came to see me, ‘Sir, may I see you please’,” PTI quoted Trump as saying. "I have a very good relationship with him.”
The US president added: “He is not that happy with me because you know they are paying a lot of tariffs now because they're not doing the oil, but they are, they’ve now reduced it very substantially, as you know, from Russia.”
Trump has repeatedly alleged that the import of discounted Russian oil by countries, including India, was fuelling Moscow’s war.
In August, the Trump administration doubled the tariffs on goods imported from India to 50% for purchasing Russian oil. A 25% so-called reciprocal tariff had already taken effect.
New Delhi had said at the time that it was “extremely unfortunate” that the US had chosen to impose the punitive levies on India “for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest”.
Trump’s remarks on Tuesday came a day after he said the US could further raise tariffs on India if New Delhi does not cut Russian oil imports.
Speaking to reporters about US policy and trade ties with India, he said his administration expected greater support from New Delhi in reducing such purchases.
On Monday, Trump said: “They wanted to make me happy, basically… Prime Minister Modi’s a very good man. He’s a good guy. He knew I was not happy. It was important to make me happy. They do trade, and we can raise tariffs on them very quickly.”
India’s Ministry of External Affairs or the embassy in Washington have not yet commented on Trump’s recent comments. New Delhi has maintained that ensuring stable energy prices and secure supplies were the goals of India’s energy policy.
The Congress on Monday criticised the Union government saying that India deserved an independent foreign policy and “not silent submission”.
On Sunday, The Hindu reported that India’s Russian oil imports had risen to a six-month high in volume and value in November. However, India also increased its purchases of oil from the US to a seven-month high that month, the report added.
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