India-Russia Trade: Trump Issues Second Tariff Warning In Two Days; Hints At...

US President Donald Trump has claimed that India is buying Russian oil and fuelling the ‘Russian war machine.’ In addition, in an interview, he said that he is going to further raise the tariffs on New Delhi in the next 24 hours.

PM Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump (Credit: File Photo/ANI)

Just days after announcing a 25 percent tariff on India, U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday (IST) said he plans to further increase tariffs on New Delhi within the next 24 hours.

According to IANS, Trump, in an interview with CNBC, said that he will raise tariffs on India, revising the earlier settled rate of 25 per cent.

“India has the highest tariffs. We do very little business with India. We settled on 25 percent, but I think I am going to raise that substantially within the next 24 hours," the US President said.

Trump also reportedly claimed that India is buying Russian oil and fuelling the ‘Russian war machine.’

India-US Tariff Row

This 24-hour warning by Donald Trump comes a day after he announced in a post on Truth Social that he will "substantially" raise US tariffs on India, accusing New Delhi of buying massive amounts of Russian oil and selling it for big profits.

Responding to the statement, New Delhi called the threat of additional tariffs "unjustified and unreasonable." After Trump threatened to impose hefty tariffs on New Delhi, the Indian government on Monday said that the targeting of the country by the US over Russian oil purchase is unjustified and unreasonable.

A statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson said that like any major economy, "India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security".

According to the government, India has been targeted by the United States and the European Union for importing oil from Russia after the commencement of the Ukraine conflict.

On the other hand, Russia also replied strongly to the tariff threats, labelling such US pressure tactics as "illegitimate". Moscow backed India and, while criticising Trump over his threats to increase tariffs on New Delhi for buying oil from Moscow, contended that “sovereign nations must have the right to choose their trading partners.”

IANS reported, citing Russia's state-owned news agency TASS, that the Russian President's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, has stated that sovereign countries have the right to choose their trading partners. 

“Russia notes US threats against India but does not consider such statements to be legitimate. Sovereign countries must have and have the right to choose their trading partners, partners in trade and economic cooperation, and to choose those trade and economic cooperation regimes that are in the interests of a particular country," the Russian President's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, was quoted as saying by TASS.

(with IANS inputs)