Donald Trump had announced a 25 per cent tariff on India, which he later increased to 50 per cent. He claimed that India is trading heavily with Russia and indirectly helping it in the Ukraine war.
After failing to finalise a trade deal with India, the US has been targeting the country. However, Washington’s threats have had no effect on New Delhi. In the past few weeks, US President Donald Trump warned of heavy tariffs on India for buying Russian oil and doing business with Moscow. Despite this, India’s imports of Russian crude have actually gone up this month.
Reports say that in August so far, India has been buying about 2 million barrels of oil per day from Russia. It has also emerged that Indian refineries are prioritising economic benefits when deciding on crude oil purchases.
Global data and analytics firm Kpler reported that in the first half of August, India imported about 5.2 million barrels of crude oil per day, with 38 per cent of it coming from Russia. During this period, India bought nearly 2 million barrels per day from Russia, up from 1.6 million barrels per day in July, showing a month-on-month increase in Russian oil imports.
In the same period, imports from Iraq dropped to 730,000 barrels per day, while imports from Saudi Arabia fell from 700,000 to 526,000 barrels per day. According to Kpler, India imported 264,000 barrels per day from the United States, making the U.S. the country’s fifth-largest oil supplier.
Kpler’s lead research analyst, Sumit Ritolia, said that India’s trade with Russia has remained steady.
“India’s imports of Russian crude oil have so far stayed stable in August. Even after the Trump administration announced tariffs at the end of July 2025, there has been no drop,” he said. Ritolia explained that this stability is mainly because August’s supplies were arranged back in June and early July.
He added that if there is any change in the situation, it will likely be visible only in shipments arriving between late September and October.
India’s clear response to Trump’s warning
Earlier, Donald Trump had announced a 25 per cent tariff on India, which he later increased to 50 per cent. He claimed that India is trading heavily with Russia and indirectly helping it in the Ukraine war.
India, however, called the U.S. tariffs unreasonable and made it clear that it will take all necessary steps to protect its economic and national interests.
