Trump warns of more tariffs if India continues Russian oil trade, repeats claims of stopping war with Pakistan

US President Donald Trump reignited his tariff threats against India and warned that New Delhi will face “massive tariffs” unless it limits its purchase of Russian oil. While speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump reiterated his claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally assured him that New Delhi would halt such imports.

“He (PM Modi) told me, ‘I’m not going to be doing the Russian oil thing.’ But if they keep doing it, they’ll be paying massive tariffs,” the American leader said on Sunday. The remarks from Trump came after an unexpected announcement in the Oval Office on Wednesday when Trump said that PM Modi assured him that India would stop purchasing oil from Russia, calling it a “big step”.

“India gets roughly one-third of its oil from Russia,” Trump said, adding that his administration views the purchases as helping Moscow fund its war in Ukraine. In recent weeks, Washington has intensified its pressure on countries which are still trading with Russia, arguing that revenue generated by Moscow through oil trade is helping Russian President Vladimir Putin to continue the war in Ukraine. 

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India denies Trump’s claims

Soon after Trump made the proclamation the first time, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) rejected his claim. During a weekly press briefing on Thursday, ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said he was “ unaware of any conversation” between Trump and Modi the previous day.

Jaiswal noted that the discussions on energy cooperation between India and the United States are ongoing, but did not confirm Trump’s claim that New Delhi had agreed to stop Russian oil purchases. “There are continuous talks on deepening energy ties with the United States,” Jaiswal said, without elaborating on whether India plans to change its import strategy.

India has been facing nearly 50 per cent tariff on its goods that are being exported to the United States; the tariffs have also stalled the negotiation of a trade deal between the two nations. While speaking to the reporters, the American leader said that those duties will remain – or even increase – if India continues importing Russian crude. “If they keep doing it, they’ll be paying massive tariffs,” he reiterated.

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Trump repeats claims of stopping India-Pakistan war

In a separate rant, the POTUS once again claimed that he averted a potential war between India and Pakistan by pushing tariff threats. He went on to claim that “seven planes were shot down” during the heightened tensions in May between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. However, Trump did not provide any evidence for the same.

“I’ve ended, you know, eight wars that we just mentioned. Five of them have ended because of tariffs. The threat of tariffs, as an example, kept India and Pakistan–two nuclear nations–from going at it,” Trump told Fox News on Sunday. “They were going at it–seven planes were shot down. That’s a lot. And they were going at it. That could have been a nuclear war,” he added.

Trump went on to claim that his direct intervention, including the threat of imposing 200 per cent tariffs, led to a de-escalation of the conflict between the neighbouring nations.“I said to India and Pakistan pretty much the same thing: ‘Look, if you’re going to fight each other, I’m not going to do business with you. We’re going to put on a 200 per cent tariff. It’ll make it impossible for you to do business,’” he said.

“‘No, no, no,’ they said. And after 24 hours, I settled the war. I settled it through trade,” he added. Trump had been constantly repeating the claims that he played a key role in helping de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan.

However, India has consistently refuted the claims made by the American leader, reiterating its long-standing position that any issues with Pakistan, including those related to Jammu and Kashmir, are to be resolved bilaterally between the two nations.

With inputs from agencies.