India hardened its stance on Monday after US President Donald Trump threatened the nation with much steeper tariffs. India claimed it was being “targeted” by the United States and the European Union for importing Russian oil.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement late Monday that the country only started purchasing oil from Russia after “traditional supplies” were diverted to Europe after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in 2022.
“It is revealing that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion [for them],” the ministry said, calling out the US and EU.
According to data from the European Commission, the EU’s bilateral trade with Russia was worth 67.5 billion euros ($78.1 billion) in 2024, compared to 17.2 billion euros in 2023 for services trade. India said that the EU’s trade was much more than its overall trade with Russia, citing the data.
Bilateral trade between New Delhi and Moscow hit a record $68.7 billion for the year ending March 2025, according to data from the Indian embassy in Moscow. This is about 5.8 times more than the $10.1 billion in trade that existed before to the pandemic.
While the EU was Moscow’s leading trade partner in 2020, it fell to third place in 2024, making up 38.4 percent of Russia’s total international commerce in goods. From 257.5 billion euros in 2021 to approximately 74 percent in 2024, the EU’s goods trade with Russia fell.
Trump on Monday threatened to “substantially raise” tariffs on India though he did not specify the amount of the additional tariffs. In defiance of Trump’s tariff threats, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged consumers to purchase locally made goods. Additionally, the Modi government has continued to buy Russian oil.
Last week, the US president threatened an unspecified “penalty” and a 25 percent duty on Indian exports. Trump also accused India of purchasing Russian oil at a discount and “selling it on the Open Market for big profits.”
According to a report released earlier this year by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Russia has emerged as India’s leading oil supplier since the start of the war in Ukraine. Before the invasion, the country imported just under 100,000 barrels of oil per day, or 2.5 percent of its total imports, but by 2023, it was importing over 1.8 million barrels per day, or 39 percent.
“The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability,” the country said in its statement.
During a seminar last year, Eric Garcetti, the former US ambassador to India, stated that India bought Russian oil because “we wanted somebody to buy Russian oil.”
In 2024, India received 70 percent of Russia’s crude exports, according to the International Energy Agency. India said that the purpose of oil imports was to guarantee Indian consumers stable and affordable energy.
India’s energy minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, said in an interview with CNBC In July that New Delhi has helped stabilise global energy prices and was urged to do so by the US, defending its oil purchases from Russia.
“If people or countries had stopped buying at that stage, the price of oil would have gone up to 130 dollars a barrel. That was a situation in which we were advised, including by our friends in the United States, to please buy Russian oil, but within the price cap,” Puri said.
India also accused the US, claiming that it still imports fertilisers, chemicals, palladium for the electric vehicle industry, and uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry from Russia.
According to government data, US bilateral trade with Russia was $5.2 billion in 2024, down from over $36 billion in 2021. No “reciprocal tariffs” were imposed on Russia by the US.
“In this background, the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” New Delhi said.
Meanwhile, India is now the focus of Trump’s strategy to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin into agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza, marking a change in the US’s approach to the country. The US president, in particular, criticised India’s continued ties with Russia and its participation in the BRICS summit, saying that “they can take their dead economies down together.”
Modi’s present emphasis on boosting domestic manufacturing and consumption aligns with his “Make in India” initiative. Since US tariffs were imposed, this strategy has grown in importance.