E-Paper
India will cut Russian oil imports by 60% by year-end: Trump sticks to claim
Drawing parallels between India and China, Donald Trump also said that while New Delhi has been "absolutely great", the case is different with China.
US President Donald Trump appears unwilling to back down from his claim that India will soon snap its oil trade ties with Russia. Reiterating the assertion on Thursday, he added a specific figure this time: “By the end of the year, they'll be down to almost nothing, about 40 percent of the (Russian) oil.”
Just like his claim to have brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, people would soon lose count of how many times Donald Trump has claimed that India would end its oil trade with Russia.
"India, as you know, has told me they are going to stop...it's a process. You can't just stop (buying oil from Russia)," Trump said in his fresh remarks from the White House, further recalling that he spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi a day earlier.
Drawing parallels between India and China, Trump also said that while New Delhi has been "absolutely great", the case is different with China. "They have a little bit different relationship with Russia. It was never good, but because of Biden and Obama, they got forced together. They should never have been forced together... They (China-Russia) can't be friendly... I hope they are friendly, but they can't be...," Trump said.
His fresh remark comes a day after Mint reported that India could soon see the American tariffs against it reduced to 15-16% from the whopping 50%. The report had also suggested that India may gradually scale back on its oil purchase from Russia.
Trump had imposed the the massive duties on India back in August, and 25% of the tariffs came as additional penalties for India's energy ties with Russia.
Trump first made the big claim on India's oil trade plans with Russia last week, when he asserted that PM Modi “assured” him “that they will not be buying oil from Russia”.
Referencing what his "great friend" Modi apparently told him, Trump said to the reporters: “Yeah, sure. He's (PM Narendra Modi) a friend of mine. We have a great relationship...I was not happy that India was buying oil. And he assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia. That's a big step”.
Second only to China, India is the largest buyer of Russian energy.
However, after Trump first made the big claim, India had denied that him and PM Modi held a phone call. “On the question of whether there was a conversation or a telephone call between Prime Minister Modi and President Trump, I am not aware of any conversation yesterday between the two leaders,” said MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal last week.
