Trump claims India will buy Venezuelan oil: 'We've already made that deal'
Donald Trump claimed India will buy Venezuelan oil instead of Iranian crude as Washington moves to cut Russia-linked oil trade and ease some sanctions on Venezuela
 "Trump claims India will buy Venezuelan oil: 'We've already made that deal'")
US President Donald Trump on Saturday (local time) claimed that India will buy oil from Venezuela rather than purchasing crude from Iran.
"We've already made that deal, the concept of the deal," Trump said aboard Air Force One, reported Reuters.
Trump also said that China is free to strike a similar deal with the United States to buy Venezuelan oil.
The US President's remarks came a day after Washington told New Delhi that it could soon restart purchases of Venezuelan oil to replace some of its Russian imports, Reuters reported.
Washington’s push to supply Venezuelan crude to India is part of a broader effort to cut oil revenues that it claims are helping fund Russia’s war in Ukraine. In March last year, Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on countries, including India, that were buying Venezuelan oil.
India-Russia oil trade under pressure from US tariffs
Last month, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said India had stopped buying Russian oil after Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff.
In August last year, US tariffs on Indian goods rose to 50 per cent after Washington added another 25 per cent levy over India’s purchases of Russian oil.
India had emerged as a major buyer of Russian crude after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to Western sanctions and discounted prices.
India diversifying crude sources as Russian imports fall
Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said last week that India is diversifying its crude oil sources as imports from Russia decline. Imports stood at about 1.2 million bpd in January and are expected to fall to around 1 million bpd in February and 800,000 bpd in March.
US eases Venezuela oil sanctions to boost sales
The developments come after the Trump administration eased some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry on Thursday to allow smoother oil sales by US companies.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control now allows US firms to buy, sell, transport, store and refine Venezuelan crude. However, existing sanctions on Venezuela’s oil production remain in place.
Trump has said that the US plans to control Venezuela’s oil sales and revenues indefinitely, following a US raid in Caracas on January 3 in which Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was captured.
He also said he wants US oil companies to invest $100 billion to revive Venezuela’s oil output, which has suffered due to years of underinvestment and mismanagement. ALSO READ | BPCL seeks $10-12 per barrel discount on Venezuelan crude for viability
Venezuela reaches out to India after US action
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodríguez spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday to discuss expanding cooperation in areas such as energy, trade and investment.
This marked the first leadership-level contact from Venezuela to India since the US military action in Caracas.
In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said, "the two leaders agreed to further expand and deepen the India-Venezuela partnership in all areas, including trade and investment, energy, digital technology, health, agriculture and people-to-people ties... the two leaders agreed to remain in touch".
(With agency inputs)