US President Donald Trump has announced a new trade deal with India, reducing tariffs on Indian goods from 25 per cent to 18 per cent, while claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to stop buying Russian oil amid the war in Ukraine.
Trump said the agreement followed a phone conversation with Modi and described the move as a gesture of “friendship and respect,” adding that India would instead increase oil purchases from the United States and potentially Venezuela. He also confirmed that an additional 25 per cent tariff previously imposed over India’s Russian oil imports would be scrapped.
While Modi welcomed the tariff reduction and described the call with Trump as “wonderful,” he made no public reference to any commitment to halt Russian oil purchases.
India’s continued importation of discounted Russian crude has been a longstanding point of tension with Washington, which argues that such purchases help fund Moscow’s war effort. Russia currently supplies more than a third of India’s crude oil imports.
The deal marks a significant shift in US–India trade relations, though uncertainty remains over whether India will formally change its oil sourcing policy, given the absence of confirmation from New Delhi.
