President Donald Trump signed this Wednesday, August 6, a decree adding 25 % customs duties to Indian products, “In response to the continuous purchase of Russian oil”an essential source of income for Moscow, announced the White House on one of its X accounts. This new surcharge is added to that of 25 % which must come into force Thursday, at the same time as the customs duties that Donald Trump presents as “Converse”and will only be effective in 21 days, according to the decree. It will not apply to a certain number of products, which significantly reduces its scope.
As he had already done on several occasions by threatening India with a “penalty”, Donald Trump had accentuated on Tuesday pressure on the country by ensuring that new customs duties were going to be announced “In the coming 24 hours” and at a higher level than anticipated so far. The billionaire will therefore have made his threat to execution the next day, just a few days after reporting that he would use his trade policy as a lever against Russia to compel her to stop his offensive in Ukraine.
Second in the largest Russian oil buyers, India saves billions of dollars on this crude crude price which offers Moscow an essential source of income in its military offensive against Ukraine. When the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out in 2022, the country, one of the largest crude oil importers in the world, has seized the opportunity to buy cheap oil and imports from Russia have jumped. The Western allies of Ukraine have repeatedly sought to slow down Russian export revenues, but the country has succeeded in redirecting its sales of energy products from Europe to other countries, including India and China, thus ensuring the continuity of this flow of capital of several billion dollars. New Delhi bought around 1.8 million barrels of Russian crude oil per day in 2024, which represents around 37 % of total oil exports from Moscow.
“India was not a good business partner, because it does a lot of business with us, but we do not do it with it. So we agreed on 25 % but I think I will increase this figure significantly in the coming 24 hours because they buy Russian oil ”, The American president warned on Tuesday in an interview with the CNBC channel. Before, therefore, to double the bet.
In the wake of the announcement, the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs qualified “extremely regrettable “ the American decision, judging it “Unjust, unjustified and unreasonable”. “Our imports are based on market criteria and have the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of the 1.4 billion inhabitants of India, justifies New Delhi in a press release. It is therefore extremely regrettable that the United States chooses to impose additional customs duties on India for actions that several other countries also take in their own national interest. ”
“We hear many statements that are practically nothing other than threats and attempts to force countries to stop their trade relations with Russia”had declared in the process the spokesperson of the Kremlin, Dmitri Peskov, during a press point, judging these declarations “Illegitimate”. “We believe that sovereign countries have the right to choose their own business partners”he added, before Donald Trump nevertheless decided to force his hand to the Indian government.
Update at 6.50 p.m. with the response from the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
