United States President Donald Trump said on Saturday that India will buy oil from Venezuela instead of Iran, Reuters reported.
“We’ve already made that deal, the concept of the deal,” he told reporters.
The Ministry of External Affairs has not yet commented on the matter.
Trump said that China was also “welcome” to make a deal with the US on purchasing oil.
A day earlier, the US had told India that it could soon resume purchasing Venezuelan oil to help replace oil imports from Russia, Reuters quoted three persons familiar with the matter as saying.
In March, the Trump administration had imposed 25% tariffs on countries importing Venezuelan oil, including India. It had claimed that the actions and policies of Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president at the time, posed an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”.
On January 3, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were abducted by the US military in an overnight operation. The US has accused Maduro of narco terrorism and drug trafficking, among other crimes – allegations that Maduro has pleaded not guilty to.
Four days after Maduro was abducted and taken to the US, Trump said that his country will get up to 50 million barrels of oil from Venezuela.
The US is seeking to supply Venezuelan oil to India as part of its efforts to reduce the oil revenues that it says are funding Russia’s war on Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly alleged that the import of discounted Russian oil by countries, including India, was fuelling the war.
However, India has said that the US tariffs are unjustified and has maintained that its oil purchases are guided by the country’s energy security needs.
Indian goods are facing a combined US tariff rate of 50%, including a punitive levy of 25% imposed in August for buying Russian oil.
The US has claimed that India stopped buying Russian oil after the punitive tariffs were imposed. New Delhi has not yet commented on the claim.
On January 12, Trump also said that a tariff rate of 25% will be imposed on goods from countries doing business with Iran.
While China is Iran’s largest trading partner, India has been among the top five countries with which Tehran has had trade ties in recent years.
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