The White House has requested that European countries follow its lead in applying sanctions against India — including a total halt to all oil and gas purchases from New Delhi.
The US also encourages Europe to levy secondary tariffs on India, after the US itself has threatened to do if India continued to buy Russian oil.
India has protested repeatedly to Trump’s 50% tariffs for its purchasing Russian crude, and expressed its surprise that China is not subjected to the same punishment, calling this “unjustified and unreasonable”.
India has also pointed out that Europe continues to buy energy products from Moscow, and has done without pause since the beginning of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Most countries nations have not openly advocated or opposed Trump’s tariffs, while the European Commission accepted Trump’s tariff deal, which benefitted America and put Europe in a disadvantaged position.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that India’s decision to purchase discounted Russian oil followed the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, which led traditional energy suppliers to divert their exports towards Europe.
In fact, India claims that bilateral trade between the European Union and Russia in 2024 were “significantly more than India’s total trade with Russia that year or subsequently.”
Meanwhile, European countries are buying Russian oil diverted through India.
Crude Russian oil, bought for low prices from Russia in light of the war, is refined in India and then exported to Europe.
When the United State applied up to 4000 sanctions on Russia in 2022, crude oil was not sanctioned.
Importantly, at the time, the United States had encouraged India’s purchases as a means of stabilizing global energy markets.
India’s MEA insist that India’s energy imports from Russia are essential to ensuring affordable and predictable fuel prices for Indian consumers.
“Where the United States is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals,” a statement from MEA reveals.
New Delhi has always said that that its foreign policy decisions, including energy partnerships, are independent and based on pragmatic considerations, in light of volatile global markets.
