India’s criticism followed a renewed threat by US President Donald Trump yesterday to raise tariffs on goods from India over its Russian oil purchases, deepening the trade rift between the two countries.
In a rare show of unity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Congress today condemned Trump’s repeated criticism of New Delhi.
India’s foreign ministry said in a statement issued late yesterday that “it is revealing that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia”.
“It is unjustified to single out India,” the ministry said. It said the EU conducted €67.5 billion (US$78.02 billion) in trade with Russia in 2024, including record imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) reaching 16.5 million metric tonnes.
The US, the statement said, continues to import Russian uranium hexafluoride for use in its nuclear power industry, palladium, fertilisers and chemicals. It did not give a source for the export information.
The US embassy and the EU’s delegation in New Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Both the US and EU have sharply scaled back their trade ties with Russia since it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In 2021, Russia was the EU’s fifth-largest trading partner, with goods exchange worth €258 billion, according to the EU executive European Commission.
Sudden rift
The sudden rift between India and the US has been deepening since July 31, when Trump announced a 25% tariff on Indian goods being shipped to the US and for the first time threatened unspecified penalties for buying Russian oil.
India is one of the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, importing about 1.75 million barrels per day from January to June this year, up 1% from a year ago.
Indian refiner Nayara Energy, a major buyer of Russian oil which is majority owned by Russian entities including oil major Rosneft was subjected to EU sanctions targeting Russia’s oil and energy industry in July.
India has said it does not support “unilateral sanctions” by the EU.
Trade experts say Trump’s tariffs could badly hurt India’s economy.
Ajay Srivastava of the New Delhi-based Global Trade Research Initiative said he expected Indian goods exports to the US to fall 30% in the current fiscal year ending March 31, to US$60.6 billion from US$86.5 billion in the 2025 fiscal year.
India’s equity benchmarks fell after Trump’s renewed threat of harsh tariffs on goods from India.
Manish Tewari, a member of parliament and Congress leader, said Trump’s “disparaging remarks hurt the dignity and self-respect of Indians”.
“The time has come to call out this constant bullying and hectoring,” he added.
BJP vice-president Baijayant Jay Panda quoted Henry Kissinger – the most powerful US diplomat of the Cold War era – in a post on X: “To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal”.