India must do more to wind down Russian oil buys: US trade representative

While New Delhi has 'made a lot of progress' on curbing buys of Russian crude, "it's hard for them" to completely wean off the supplies, said US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer

By Josh Wingrove

 

India has more work to do in order to satisfy US concerns about its purchases of Russian oil and secure tariff relief, President Donald Trump’s trade representative said.

 

While New Delhi has “made a lot of progress” on curbing buys of Russian crude, “it’s hard for them” to completely wean off the supplies because “they like the discount that you get from Russian oil,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Tuesday in a Fox Business interview.   

 

“I am in frequent contact with my counterpart in India. I have a great working relationship with him, but they still have a ways to go on this point,” Greer said.

 

 

The comments signal a deal to lower duties on Indian goods is still a ways off. US and Indian officials have been in talks for months over an agreement to lower Trump’s 50 per cent tariff. The president imposed the rate last year, arguing that India’s oil purchases were fueling Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. 

 

Discounted Russian crude has continued to make up a significant portion of Indian imports, a dynamic that analysts say may persist well into 2026.

 

In the meantime, India and the European Union finalized a free-trade pact that was two decades in the making. The agreement was seen as a countermeasure to Trump’s aggressive trade policies. 

 

“I think India comes out on top on this. Frankly, they have more market access into Europe. It sounds like they have some additional immigration rights,” Greer said Tuesday. “India is going to have a heyday with this. They have low-cost labor. And it looks like the EU is doubling down on globalization when we’re trying to fix some of the problems with globalization here in the US.”