WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said that India is going to pay “massive tariffs” if it continues to buy oil from Russia, while reiterating that he got assurance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi that New Delhi is going to halt its oil purchases from Moscow.
Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One, Trump said India will “continue to pay massive tariffs” if they do not cease buying oil from Russia, adding that “they (India) don’t want to do that.”
Trump was replying to a question about India’s recent remarks on oil purchases from Russia.
India last week said it is “broad-basing and diversifying” its sourcing of energy to meet market conditions, hours after Trump claimed that Modi assured him that New Delhi will stop procuring Russian crude oil.
Trump said he does not believe India made such remarks.
“But I don’t believe they said that. No, I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” the US President added.
Washington has been maintaining that India is helping Putin to finance the war through its purchase of Russian crude oil.
The relations between New Delhi and Washington have been reeling under severe stress after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent additional duty for India’s purchase of Russian crude oil.
India described the US action as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
Trump repeats Indo-Pak ceasefire claims
Meanwhile, speaking to Fox Trump has once again claimed to have resolved the war between India and Pakistan, reiterating the assertion that seven planes were shot down during the exchanges of fire, without specifying which side they belonged to. Trump claimed that the “threat of tariffs” forced India and Pakistan to stop the war.”
“The threat of tariffs, as an example, kept India and Pakistan, two nuclear nations, from going at it. They were going at it. Seven planes were shot down; that’s a lot. And they were going at it. And that could have been a nuclear war” the US President said.
Trump said Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised him for saving millions of lives.
“The Prime Minister of Pakistan actually just said, Donald Trump, President Trump, saved millions of lives by getting that,” he said.
The US president said he threatened to impose 200 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan, which forced them to stop the war. Trump said he told both countries, “We’re going to put on 200 tariffs, which will make it impossible for you to deal, and we’re not going to do business with you.”
“And after 24 hours, I settled the war,” the US President said.
Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim dozens of times that he “helped settle” the conflict between India and Pakistan.
India has consistently maintained that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes. — With inputs from agencies
