 "While Trump imposes high tariffs, India dramatically increases energy imports from US")
While US President Donald Trump is threatening to impose high tariffs on India, data suggests that New Delhi has dramatically increased its energy purchases from the US since Trump came to office in January. According to the data cited by The Hindustan Times, crude oil imports surged a whopping 51 per cent in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period.
The energy commitment reflects New Delhi’s bid to rebalance trade ties with Washington, DC, which has been one of the key demands of the Trump administration from India. The data also reflected that India’s Liquefied natural gas imports have nearly doubled from $1.41 billion in FY2023-24 to $2.46 billion in FY2024-25.
It is pertinent to note that this rise in energy imports followed a February Agreement signed between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the latter’s visit to the US. At that time, both leaders committed to expanding energy cooperation. India went on to pledge to boost American energy imports to $25 billion from $15 billion in 2024, while bilateral trade is targeted to more than double from $200 billion to $500 billion by 2030.
Indian companies tap into the American energy sector
According to the data cited by The Hindustan Times, Indian purchases from America jumped 114 per cent to $3.7 billion in the first quarter of FY2025-26 from $1.73 billion in the same period the previous year. “This trend is increasing further from July this year. So, in July 2025, India imported 23 per cent more crude oil from the US compared to June 2025. Also, in India’s overall crude imports, while the US share was earlier only 3 per cent, in July that share increased to 8 per cent,” one of the people who analysed the data told The Hindustan Times.
Not only this, American LNG has also emerged as an attractive market for Indian companies. “Buying LNG from America is a very attractive proposition for many Indian companies,” said Prashant Vashisht, senior vice president at ratings agency ICRA, told the Indian news outlet.
The jump came after Trump reversed former US President Joe Biden’s pause on processing LNG export licences soon after taking office. Amid this rise, the US Energy Information Administration expects North America’s LNG export capacity to double by 2028, with the US providing most of the increase.
India’s growing appetite for American energy is also coming at a time when the country is poised to become the largest driver of oil demand in the world. According to the International Energy Agency, India will surpass China as the major driver of global oil demand growth by 2030, with LNG demand expected to jump 78 per cent to reach 64 billion cubic metres annually.
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