PRESIDENT Donald Trump on Monday said he will “substantially” raise US tariffs on India, accusing the country of buying massive amounts of Russian oil and selling it for big profits. “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 in a social media post.

 

“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,” he added. Last week, Trump mounted a sharp attack on India and Russia for their close ties and said that the two countries can take their ‘dead economies down together’, a remark which prompted New Delhi to say that India is the world’s fastest-growing economy. The White House announced last week that India will face tariffs of 25 per cent after Trump issued an executive order listing the various duties that Washington will impose on exports from countries.

 

These announcements are being seen as a pressure tactic to get New Delhi to agree to demands made by the US in the proposed trade agreement with India. New Delhi has said that it is studying the implications of these tariffs and is still hopeful of concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial trade agreement. Declaring that the US has a massive trade deficit with India, Trump had said that while “India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their tariffs are far too high and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any country. “Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of energy, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to stop the killing in Ukraine — All things not good!” Trump had said.