Will buy Russian oil, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman as US turns up the heat

India will be at negotiating table 'in a month or two', says Lutnick

India will continue to buy Russian oil because it remains economical, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Friday, even as the White House intensified pressure on New Delhi to halt energy purchases from Moscow.

 

US President Donald Trump voiced his irritation at both India and Russia as Beijing pushes a new world order. Writing on Truth Social, Trump said India and Russia appeared to have been “lost” to China after their leaders met Chinese President Xi Jinping at this week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin. His administration’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warned that India should “stop being a vowel between Russia and China” and either quit Brics and stop buying Russian oil or continue to face a 50 per cent tariff. He said New Delhi would be forced to the negotiating table “in a month or two”. 

In an interview with Bloomberg, Lutnick pressed India to “support the dollar, support the US, support your biggest client -- the American consumer, or … pay 50 per cent tariff. And let’s see how long this lasts.” He predicted New Delhi would return to Washington within two months, apologise to Trump and seek a trade deal. “And it will be on Donald Trump’s desk how he wants to deal with (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, and we leave that to him.” 

Hours earlier, Trump had posted on social media: “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” The post was accompanied by a photograph of Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Xi at the SCO summit.

 

The spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Randhir Jaiswal, offered a terse “no comments” when asked for his reaction at his weekly briefing just minutes after Trump’s post. The Chinese foreign ministry and Kremlin did not immediately respond.

 

Earlier in the day, Sitharaman told a television channel that India would “undoubtedly” keep buying Russian oil. New Delhi “will have to take a call which supply source suits us the best,” she said, pointing out that crude oil accounts for the bulk of India’s foreign exchange spend.

 

While declining to take issue directly with Trump’s remarks, both Sitharaman and Jaiswal pushed back against recent comments by the White House trade adviser, Peter Navarro, who described India as a “laundromat” for the Kremlin.

 

The MEA confirmed that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will attend Monday’s virtual Brics summit, convened by Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. It said there had been progress on Chinese supplies of critical minerals, tunnel-boring machines, and fertilisers following Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Delhi on August 19.

 

Sitharaman called Navarro’s description of India “astonishing”. “Those in the diplomatic area will respond or deal with it,” she said. Later, Jaiswal said: “We have seen the inaccurate and misleading statements made by Navarro, and obviously reject them.”

 

The finance minister also said the government was preparing measures to help exporters hit by high US tariffs. “We can’t leave our exporters high and dry,” she said, adding that a package to reduce the burden was in the works.

 

On relations with China, Sitharaman said New Delhi and Beijing needed meaningful discussions on market access and non-tariff barriers. A long-term trading partnership, she said, would “take time” and require “sincere engagement” on both sides. She added that India would be open to relaxing investment curbs on China.

 

Jaiswal reiterated India’s support for an early end to the Ukraine conflict, while also stressing the strength of the US-India comprehensive strategic partnership, citing recent diplomatic contacts and joint military exercises.