Waiving double standards

Mr Trump discovers merits of national interest

United States (US) President Donald Trump’s decision to waive sanctions on Russian imports under a congressional law must be seen as a relief for India both in terms of its oil-import policy and for concluding the long-awaited trade deal, which had stalled mainly on this account as well as Section 301 investigations. On a broader canvas, the 60-day waiver demonstrates the Trump regime’s double standards, ratchets up strategic uncertainty over US support for ally Ukraine in its war against Russia, and generally raises global misgivings about US reliability as an ally.

 The Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, 2026, gave the President the powers to impose 100 per cent tariffs on major Russian oil buyers such as India and China, to deprive Moscow of revenue to finance its war against Ukraine. When the war broke out in February 2022, and the West drew down Russian oil and gas purchases in solidarity with Ukraine, India chose to accept the deep discounts offered by a traditional ally. This move was excoriated by Mr Trump, who imposed an additional punitive 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports in August 2025, later lifted following an interim trade framework in February this year. India’s imports of Russian oil rose steadily from about 2 per cent of all its purchase of crude oil to almost 50 per cent, as New Delhi sought to parry sharply rising global oil prices as a result of Western sanctions. Despite the fulminations from the White House, the validity of this approach, driven by national interests, was underlined by the fact that the US continued to import uranium from Russia despite the war.

 This latest waiver, driven by electoral considerations ahead of November mid-term polls and signed a day before the 30-day enforcement deadline, has undermined even further the logical tenability of US objections to India’s imports of Russian oil. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following US-Israel attacks on Iran has exerted upward pressure on prices of oil products, and like others, the American people are feeling the pinch. Diesel prices have risen 66-68 per cent over the year, driving up prices all round. The grounds for the waiver, enabled by Section 115 of the Lindsey Graham Act, were prepared on October 9, when the US Treasury issued a temporary licence allowing the sale and import of Russian diesel into the global market until April 7, 2027.  The agreement with Russia will immediately provide the US 300,000 tonnes of diesel, followed by 500,000 tonnes in November and one million tonnes subsequently. Russia will also release 3 million tonnes, depending on the state of its refineries (some of which were recently attacked by Ukraine).

 This remarkable geostrategic pivot is also driven by Mr Trump’s tensions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has accused the US administration of scaling back military support and intelligence sharing. Delays in supplying promised Patriot missiles and deteriorating Starlink satellite services, which have impacted drone performance and battlefield communications, have been notable setbacks for Ukraine of late. As US allies add their voice to lawmakers, including some Republicans, on the amorality of the latest waiver, it is ironic that Mr Trump should offer the national-interest counter-argument — which he emphatically rejected in India’s case a year ago.