"Using US dollars to buy Russian oil": Trump Adviser's new India tariff rant

After dubbing the conflict in Ukraine as "Modi's war", US President Donald Trump's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, has doubled down on his attack on India's crude trade with Russia, claiming US tariffs on New Delhi are not just about 'unfair trade', but cutting Moscow's "financial lifelines". He argued that money from India's oil purchases goes straight into Russian President Vladimir Putin's "war chest". Taking to X, he racially profiled Prime Minister Narendra Modi by posting a photograph of him meditating in saffron robes. Under the photo, he wrote, "The road to peace in Ukraine runs through New Delhi."  Explaning what he called the "India-Russia oil mathematics", Trump's trade czar said, "American consumers buy Indian goods while India keeps out U.S. exports through high tariffs and non-tariff barriers. India uses our dollars to buy discounted Russian crude." He claimed that Indian refiners, "with their silent Russian partners, refine and flip the black-market oil for big profits on the international market - while Russia pockets hard currency to fund its war on Ukraine."

Navarro pointed out that before Russia invaded Ukraine, Russian oil made up less than 1 per cent of India's imports, not now it's over 30 per cent, with New Delhi importing more than 1.5 million barrels a day. "This surge isn't driven by domestic demand-it's driven by Indian profiteers and carries an added price of blood and devastation in Ukraine. India's Big Oil lobby has turned the largest democracy in the world into a massive refining hub and oil money laundromat for the Kremlin," he claimed. India has defended its purchases of Russian oil, saying it was necessary to keep energy prices low and stabilise its domestic market, and has cast the US's actions as "unjustified." India is the only major economy to be hit by what Trump has cast as "secondary tariffs", even though China is also a major buyer of Russian crude. 

Historically, India was not a significant importer of Russian crude, depending more heavily on the Middle East. But that changed in 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine and the Group of Seven nations imposed a $60-per-barrel price cap to limit the Kremlin's oil revenue while ensuring that supplies continued to flow globally. India's ability to purchase discounted cargoes was a feature of that mechanism, US officials have acknowledged. However, Navarro claimed Indian refiners buy cheap Russian oil, process it, and export fuels to Europe, Africa, and Asia, while being "shielded from sanctions under the pretense of neutrality." "India now exports over 1 million barrels a day in refined petroleum-more than half the volume of Russian crude it imports. The proceeds flow to India's politically connected energy titans-and directly into Putin's war chest. While the United States pays to arm Ukraine, India bankrolls Russia even as it slaps some of the world's highest tariffs on U.S. goods, which in turn punishes American exporters," he claimed. Trump adviser also noted that the US now runs a $50-billion trade deficit with India-and claimed New Delhi is "using our dollars to buy Russian oil." "They make a killing and Ukrainians die. It doesn't stop there. India continues to buy Russian weapons-while demanding that U.S. firms transfer sensitive military tech and build plants in India. That's strategic freeloading," he said.

Navarro blamed the previous Joe Biden administration for looking the "other way at this madness" and said President Trump is confronting it. "A 50 per cent tariff-25 per cent for unfair trade and 25 per cent for national security-is a direct response. If India, the world's largest democracy, wants to be treated like a strategic partner of the U.S., it needs to act like one. The road to peace in Ukraine runs through New Delhi," he said.