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‘Nothing to say sorry about’: Tharoor hits back at Trump's commerce secretary on Russian oil purchase
Tharoor also reasoned why India was being solely targeted for trading with Russia when China, Turkey and Europe does more trade with Moscow.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday hit out at US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick over his recent remarks on India-US trade deal saying, "India doesn't have to say sorry about anything".
Responding to Washington's allegations on New Delhi buying Russian oil, Tharoor said the previous White House administration requested India to buy Russian oil to stabilise global oil prices. He was referring to Joe Biden administration, which had backed India's purchase of Russian oil to keep global prices stable.
Responding to the commerce secretary's remarks, Tharoor said, "I don't think we have anything to say sorry about at all. India has behaved with a great deal of maturity on all of this."
The Congress MP said that the previous US government had requested India to buy Russian oil.
"Don't forget that trade with Russia and oil was actually blessed by previous American administrations; they requested us to buy some Russian oil in order to stabilise global oil prices," Tharoor said.
Lutnick on Friday said that India was going to be back at the negotiating table in a month or two months, "saying sorry".
“So, I think yes, in a month or two months, I think India is going to be at the table, and they're going to say they're sorry, and they're going to try to make a deal with Donald Trump,” Lutnick told Bloomberg.
Also Read: Donald Trump shifts tone, says US ties with India are ‘special’
Tharoor also reasoned why India was being solely targeted for trading with Russia when China, Turkey and Europe does more trade with Moscow.
"China buys more Russian oil and gas than we do. Turkey buys more Russian oil and gas than we do. Europe doesn't buy oil and gas, but they buy other Russian items, so they're putting more billions of dollars into Russia's kitty than we do," he said.
The ties between the two countries took a turn, for the better, on Friday when Trump called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “great Prime Minister” and described India-US relations as experiencing a “momentary hiccup”.
Speaking on Trump's recent statements, indicating a thaw, Tharoor said, “I don't think we can just completely forget either the 50 per cent tariffs or the insults that have accompanied it from both the President and his staff. I think there's some serious repair work that needs to be done by governments and diplomats on both sides.”
Tharoor further said that the US President has “a fairly mercurial temperament", adding that one cannot just “forget and forgive so quickly”.
