Washington: U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a second warning to India within 24 hours, announcing plans to impose additional tariffs on Indian goods in response to New Delhi’s continued oil imports from Russia.
He stated that the existing 25% tariff would be further increased, citing India’s continued purchase of oil from Russia as a key reason.
Expressing his dissatisfaction, Trump remarked, “I am not happy with what India is doing,” signaling rising tensions between the two countries over trade and foreign policy decisions.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been performing a tricky balancing act for maintaining close partnerships with US President Donald Trump and Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin while insisting his country is a neutral party in the Russia-Ukraine war, to the dismay of Western nations who have sanctioned Moscow.
But now, it seems, Trump has lost his patience and demanding that Modi finally pick a side, and using India’s continued purchases of cheap Russian oil as leverage in his trade war.
The conundrum pits Trump and Modi, two nationalist leaders who have often described their friendship in warm terms, increasingly against each other.
On Monday, Trump vowed in an interview with CNBC to “substantially” raise tariffs on India “over the next 24 hours” because it’s still buying Russian oil. It’s not clear what the new tariff rate would be – or why he is now taking issue with something India has done for years.
But the fresh threat comes after he had already announced a minimum 25% tariff on goods coming from India last week.
“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 wrote on Truth Social last week.
