Trump claims he 'heard' India will stop buying oil from Russia, calls it a 'good step'
Trump’s remarks come a day after the White House announced 25% tariffs and a ‘penalty’ on India over its purchases of Russian arms and oil.
PTI
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US President Donald Trump
New York, 2 Aug
US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he has heard that India is no
longer going to buy oil from Russia, which he hailed as a "good
step," but added that he wasn't sure about the development.
“Well, I understand India no longer is going to be buying oil from
Russia. That's what I heard. I don't know if that's right or not, but that's a
good step. We'll see what happens,” Trump told reporters Friday.
Trump’s comments come a day after the White House announced tariffs the
US will impose on exports from about 70 nations. According to the executive
order, India will face tariffs of 25 per cent, but it did not mention the“penalty” that Trump had said India will have to pay because of its purchases
of Russian military equipment and energy.
Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was asked at
the weekly media briefing on Friday about the reports claiming that Indian oil
companies have stopped buying oil from Russia in the past week.
Jaiswal responded that as far as sourcing India’s energy requirements is
concerned, “we take decisions based on the price at which oil is available in
the international market and depending on the global situation at that time. As
for the specifics of your particular question, I am not aware of it. I don’t
have details of these specifics.”
Declaring that the US has a massive trade deficit with India, Trump had
said that while “India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively
little business with them because their tariffs are far too high, among the
highest in the world, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious
non-monetary Trade Barriers of any country.
"Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military
equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of energy, along with
China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to stop the killing in Ukraine — All
things not good!” Trump said.
He said that India will therefore be paying a tariff of 25 per cent,
plus a penalty for the above, starting on 1 August.
Trump had also mounted a sharp attack on India and Russia for their
close ties and said that the two countries can take their "dead economies
down together."
"I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care. We have done very little business with
India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World. Likewise,
Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way...”
Trump had said in a post on Truth Social.
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