Trump says he will ‘substantially’ raise tariffs on India over Russian oil purchases

United States President Donald Trump on Monday said that Washington will substantially increase the tariffs imposed on goods imported from India over New Delhi’s purchase and sale of Russian oil in the “open market for big profit”.

“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian oil, they are then, for much of the oil purchased, selling it on the open market for big profits,” Trump said on social media.

He said: “They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian war machine. Because of this, I will be substantially raising the tariff paid by India to the USA.”

Trump has been threatening to impose a so-called penalty on New Delhi for buying a large portion of its military equipment and fuel from Russia amid the war on Ukraine.

The penalty would be in addition to the 25% levy Washington announced on goods imported from India, as part of the so-called reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries that have not finalised separate trade agreements with the US.

The US president’s comment on Monday came after Trump on Friday said that he had heard that India was “no longer going to be buying oil” from Russia. “I don’t know if that’s right or not, but that’s a good step,” ANI had quoted Trump...

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