India ‘stopped’ buying oil from Russia, claims U.S. Treasury Secretary

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed that India “stopped” oil purchases from Russia after US President Donald Trump imposed a 25 percent customs duty on countries purchasing oil from Moscow.

Mr. Trump imposed 50% tariffs on India, including 25% on purchases of Russian oil.

talk with Fox BusinessMr. Bessent said: “India started buying Russian oil after the (Ukraine) conflict started, but President Trump put a 25% tariff on them and India also downshifted and stopped buying Russian oil.”

While India described the US action as “unjust, unjust and unreasonable”, it argued that its energy policy was guided by its national interests.

The bill, introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham, proposes to impose a 500 percent tariff on the secondary purchase and resale of Russian oil. The proposal has near-unanimous support in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Speaking about the bill, Mr. Bessent said it was a proposal that Senator Graham had put before the Senate, and “we’ll see if it passes. We don’t believe that President Trump needs this authority, that he can do it under IEEPA, but we believe that the Senate wants to give him this authority.”

Mr. Bessent also accused Europe of buying Russian oil and financing Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“And to be clear, we have Europe buying Russian oil, they are still, or four years later, financing the war against themselves,” Mr. Bessent added.

India fell to third place among Russian fossil fuel buyers in December after Reliance Industries and state-owned refineries sharply cut crude oil imports, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, became the biggest buyer of discounted Russian crude after Western countries stayed away from Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.