6 Aug 2025 : US President Donald Trump on Tuesday reacted to India citing the United States doing trade with Russia and yet criticising New Delhi for doing business with Russia. “I don’t know anything about it, I’d have to check, but we’ll get back to you on that,” he said in reply to a reporter’s question.
Trump announced 25 per cent tariffs on Indian imports and unspecified penalties last week, ahead of his August 1 deadline for tariffs to come into effect even as talks for a deal are ongoing. Later, Trump threatened to hike that rate due to New Delhi buying military equipment and oil from Russia, calling India “Russia’s largest buyer of energy, along with China”.
Hitting back at Trump’s tariff move, India pointed out to the US imports from Russia. “Where the US is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
Citing this, New Delhi called Trump’s targeting of India “unjustified and unreasonable”, and reiterated that the government would safeguard its national interests and economic security.
Even as Trump continues his tirade against India, threatening to raise tariffs and accusing the country of “fuelling the war machine” by doing business with Russia, his own party leader, Indian-American Nikki Haley, has come out in support of India.
Taking to X, the leader called India a “strong ally”, and urged against the US giving a pass to China. “India should not be buying oil from Russia. But China, an adversary and the number one buyer of Russian and Iranian oil, got a 90-day tariff pause. Don’t give China a pass and burn a relationship with a strong ally like India,” she wrote