US doubles down on India: Speaking to media, White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro defends US tariffs, calls India’s trade tactics “cheating”; India has now become a major refining hub for Russian oil while claiming neutrality to avoid “sanctions scrutiny”, he also wrote in a newspaper, accusing that not consumers but “big oil lobby” was “profiteering”
White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro has made some starling and serious allegations against India. In his opinion piece in a leading newspaper earlier this week Navarro claimed that “what really drives this trade is profiteering by India’s big oil lobby”, “refiners buy Russian crude at a heavy discount, process it, and then export fuels to Europe, Africa, and Asia.”
On Friday he accused New Delhi of acting as a “laundromat for the Kremlin” by purchasing discounted Russian crude oil, refining it, and selling the products at premium prices worldwide. India’s actions were “perpetuating the war” in Ukraine, he also claimed, dismissing India’s assertions that Russian imports were essential for its energy security.
What Navarro said
Speaking to the media, Navarro said that India’s oil purchase from Russia was virtually close to nothing before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “The argument now, when this percentage has gone up to 30-35%, that somehow they need Russian oil, is nonsense…” he was quoted as saying.
“India doesn’t appear to want to recognise its role in the bloodshed… It is cosying up to Xi Jinping (Chinese President). They (India) don’t need the (Russian) oil,” he also said
Indian and Italian refiners are colluding to buy cheap crude, refine it, and sell it at premium prices, he claimed
“They make a bunch of money there, but then the Russians use the money to build more arms and kill Ukrainians,” he said
Navarro defends US tariffs
Starting August 27, the US will impose a 50% tariff on Indian goods.
Navarro defended the move, calling India’s trade tactics “cheating.”
“In India, 25% tariffs were put in place because they cheat us on trade. Then 25% because of the Russian oil… They have higher tariffs, Maharaja tariffs… We run a massive trade deficit with them. That hurts American workers and businesses,” he said.
Questioning India’s geopolitical alignment, he said India is “cosying up to Xi Jinping… What you’re doing right now is not creating peace. It’s perpetuating the war… In many ways, the road to peace runs through New Delhi.”
What India says
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, India will “take all actions necessary to protect its national interests”
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also rebuffed the criticism, saying that India is not the biggest purchaser of Russian oil, it is China. “India also buys oil from the US and that amount has increased,” he also said
Jaishankar’s ongoing Russia visit and high-level engagements, including a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin scheduled at the end of this month and a possible Putin’ visit to India later this year, along with ongoing border talks with China are indicative of the pace of consultations between India and two key foreign powers amid the trade tariff’ tensions with the US
For Russia it is important that India does not stop buying crude oil under US pressure and expects that oil supplies would continue at the same level.
What Navarro wrote
In his article Navarro claimed that before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian oil was less than 1% of India’s crude imports and that the “surge is not because India needs more oil for domestic use” but because India has now become a “major refining hub for Russian oil”
“The proceeds flow to India’s politically connected energy titans, and in turn, into Vladimir Putin’s war chest.
“More than 300,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed, while Nato’s eastern flank grows more exposed and the west foots the bill for India’s oil laundering,” he wrote
Between 2020 and 2024, about 36% of India’s total arms imports came from Russia, Navarro stated. “That blunts any benefit to reducing America’s trade balance while it also risks transferring cutting-edge US military capabilities to an India now cozying up to both Russia and China,” Navarro wrote defending the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on India basically meaning that if India wants to be seen as a “strategic partner” of the US it must change.
