Trump warned of sharply increasing tariffs on Indian goods within 24 hours over India's continued purchase of Russian oil.
India accused the US and EU of hypocrisy, while Russia condemned Trump’s threats as illegal pressure on sovereign nations.
Trump labeled India and Russia as “dead economies” and accused India of profiting from war, further straining diplomatic ties.
US President Donald Trump has warned of levying additional tariffs on India, which will be effective within the next 24 hours. This move comes five days after Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on India for purchasing Russian oil.
In a telephonic interview with CNBC, Trump disclosed that, "India has not been a good trading partner, because they do a lot of business with us, but we don't do business with them. So we settled on 25 per cent, but I think I'm going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they're buying Russian oil. They're fueling the war machine."
After referring to Moscow and New Delhi as "dead economies" last week, Trump has intensified his attacks. He threatened to levy more taxes this week after imposing a 25% tariff on Indian commodities, citing New Delhi's "buying massive amounts of Russian oil."
Trump had charged India the day before with selling Russian oil "on the open market for big profits." "They don't give a damn about the number of people the Russian War Machine is killing in Ukraine. As a result, I will be significantly increasing the tariff that India pays to the United States," he posted on his Truth Social platform on Monday.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs responded sharply, accusing the US and the EU of unfairly singling it out for its imports of Russian oil, even though both countries trade heavily with Moscow despite the conflict in Ukraine.
The Indian government responded to Trump's Monday tirade against Russia and India by calling it "revealing that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia."
Russia attacked Trump earlier today for "illegally" trying to compel its allies, including India, to sever commerce with Moscow. "We hear many statements that are in fact threats, attempts to force countries to cut trade relations with Russia," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, defending India's freedom to select its business partners. Such statements are not deemed legal by us.
