Trump says Modi assured him India will stop Russian oil purchases
The Indian-flagged oil tanker Desh Ujaala is seen in Gulf waters near the Basra Oil Terminal (ABOT), approximately 50 kilometers off the southern Faw peninsula of Iraq, on August 5, 2025.
Hussein Faleh | AFP | Getty Images
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told him that New Delhi would stop buying oil from Russia, but that this move would take time.
“[Modi] Today he assured me that they will not buy oil from Russia. This is a big stop.” Trump said in his speech: Press conference in the Oval Office. “Now we must get China to do the same.”
He added that Washington was unhappy with New Delhi’s purchase of crude oil from Russia because it allowed Moscow to continue its “ridiculous war” in Ukraine.
However, the US president also said that the halt would not be immediate and would take “some process”, without giving a clear timeline.
CNBC reached out to India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
India’s imports of Russian oil have been a sticking point in relations between Washington and New Delhi. While Trump imposed additional customs duties of 25 percent on India in August, increasing the total tax to 50 percent, India also warned the United States about trading with Russia.
“If India doesn’t buy [Russian] fat makes [ending the war] “It’s a lot easier,” Trump said, “and they assured me that they would not be buying oil from Russia for a short period of time and would go back to Russia after the war was over.”
on thursday, Brent crude futures It rose 0.82% to $62.43 a barrel as of 10:31 p.m. ET, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 0.89% to $58.79.
India is one of the largest buyers of Russian oil. Data from research firm Kpler shows that Russia exports about 3.35 million barrels of crude oil per day, India exports about 1.7 million barrels and China 1.1 million barrels.
New Delhi defended these purchases; Energy Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told CNBC in July that New Delhi had helped stabilize global energy prices and was encouraged to do so by the United States.
“If people or countries had stopped buying at this stage, the price of oil would have gone up to $130 per barrel. This was a situation where we, including our friends in the US, were advised to buy Russian oil within the ceiling price,” Puri said. he said.
Russia’s crude oil sales have been price capped by G7 countries and the European Union since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The price ceiling, set at $47.6 per barrel, aims to limit Moscow’s income from oil exports and restrict the country’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine.
