India calls out EU and U.S.′ trade with Russia after Trump threatens steeper tariffs on New Delhi

India claimed that the United States and the European Union were "targeting" it for its Russian oil imports after the United States. President Donald Trump in an overnight social media post threatened New Delhi with much steeper tariffs.
 India began importing oil from Russia only after “traditional supplies” were diverted to Europe following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement late Monday.
 “It is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves engaging in trade with Russia,” the ministry said of the EU and the United States. In contrast to our situation, such trade is not even a crucial national requirement for them. The EU’s bilateral trade with Russia stood at 67.5 billion euros ($78.1 billion) in 2024, while its services trade in 2023 was at 17.2 billion euros, according to European Commission data.  Citing those numbers, India said the bloc’s trade was “significantly more” than India’s total trade with Russia.
 Data from the Indian embassy in Moscow showed bilateral trade between New Delhi and Moscow reached a record $68.7 billion for the year ended March 2025, nearly 5.8 times higher than the pre-pandemic trade of $10.1 billion.
 In contrast, Russia's third-largest trade partner in 2024 was the EU, which represented 38.4% of the country's total global goods trade and had previously been Moscow's most important partner in 2020. EU’s goods trade with Russia dropped nearly 74% in 2024 from 257.5 billion euros in 2021.
 India’s response comes after Trump threatened on Monday that he would be “substantially raising” the tariffs on India, although he did not specify the level of the higher tariffs.  Last week, the president of the United States had threatened an unspecified "penalty" and a duty of 25% on Indian exports. Additionally, he asserted that India "sold it on the Open Market for big profits" by purchasing discounted Russian oil. Russia became the leading oil supplier to India since the war in Ukraine began, increasing imports from just under 100,000 barrels per day before the invasion, or a 2.5% of its total imports, to more than 1.8 million barrels per day in 2023, or 39%, according to the U.S.  The report from the Energy Information Administration earlier this year. India stated in its statement that "the United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability." At a conference last year, U.S. Ambassador Eric Garcetti stated that India purchased Russian oil because "we wanted somebody to buy Russian oil." In 2024, the International Energy Agency estimates that 70% of Russian crude was exported to India. India said oil imports were meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer.
 The energy minister of India, Hardeep Singh Puri, stated in an interview with CNBC last month that New Delhi helped stabilize global energy prices and was encouraged to do so by the United States. India has previously defended 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.  Puri stated, "That was a circumstance in which we were advised, including by our American friends, to please buy Russian oil within the price cap." India also took aim at the U.S., saying the country continues to import uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for the electric-vehicle industry, as well as fertilizers and chemicals from Russia.
 According to government data, bilateral trade between the United States and Russia stood at $5.2 billion in 2024, compared to nearly $36 billion in 2021. Russia is not subject to any "reciprocal tariffs" from the United States. “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.
 Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, stated that some of India's concerns were legitimate in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia." "The price cap system that facilitated the redirection of trade was implemented by the previous US administration." Ziemba also said India is caught in a “crossfire” of difficult trade talks.