Don't burn ties with India, says Nikki Haley; slams China tariff pause

Former UN envoy and presidential primary contestant says US should not penalise ally India while giving China, the top buyer of Russian oil, a 90-day tariff break despite deeper ties with Moscow

Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Tuesday criticised the Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on Indian goods while granting a temporary exemption to China. She called the move unfair, citing China's extensive oil trade with Russia and Iran.

 

Haley, a former South Carolina governor who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Party's presidential nomination last year, questioned why India — a long-standing US ally — was being penalised for its oil imports from Russia, while China received a lenient tariff pause.

 

“India should not be buying oil from Russia. But China, an adversary and the number one buyer of Russian and Iranian oil, got a 90-day tariff pause. Don’t give China a pass and burn a relationship with a strong ally like India,” Haley posted on X.

 

US under scrutiny over tariff double standards

The US recently imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports, citing energy ties with Russia as a key concern.

 

Earlier on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said tariffs on Indian imports would be raised “very substantially” within the next 24 hours. He linked the proposed hike to India’s continued oil trade with Russia, which he claimed was helping fund the war in Ukraine. 

 

“They're fuelling the war machine, and if they're going to do that, then I'm not going to be happy,” Trump told CNBC.

 

Beyond energy concerns, Trump also criticised India’s overall trade practices, calling the country’s existing tariff structure the “primary point of contention”. He said new tariffs would be introduced in select sectors but did not disclose full details. “We'll be putting an initially small tariff on pharma,” he added.

India defends energy imports, hits back at criticism

On Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a sharp rebuttal to Trump’s remarks, calling the criticism over Russian oil imports “unjustified and unreasonable”. It maintained that India’s energy ties with Russia were a matter of national necessity and were comparatively minor when viewed against the scale of Russia’s trade with Western countries.

 

“India has been targeted by the United States and the European Union for importing oil from Russia after the commencement of the Ukraine conflict. In fact, India began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict,” the MEA said in a statement.