President Donald Trump has claimed that India has agreed to stop buying Russian crude oil, as the US government seeks to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine by cutting off vital energy revenues for the Kremlin. President Trump has said he intends to persuade China to do the same.
The US president told reporters on Wednesday that he had received assurances from Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India would stop buying oil in the “short term”. India and China are the largest buyers of Russia’s seaborne crude oil exports.
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President Trump is trying to use ongoing trade negotiations with New Delhi to pressure India over Russian oil. And in August, it imposed additional trade duties on New Delhi on the pretext that India continued to import Russian crude oil. But Mr. Modi has so far refused to back down. Indian officials have for months defended Russian energy purchases as critical to India’s national security.
India’s move to halt imports signals a major shift by one of Russia’s biggest energy customers and could undermine Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
Why is Russian oil a source of contention between India and the US?
President Trump imposed an additional 25% trade tariff on New Delhi in August, bringing the total tariff to 50% because India continues to import Russian crude oil. But he did not take similar punitive action against China, which remains the largest importer of Russian oil.
China imported a record 109 million tonnes of Russian crude oil last year, nearly 20% of its total energy imports, according to Chinese customs data. In contrast, India imported 88 million tonnes of Russian crude oil in 2024.
New Delhi therefore accused the US government of selectively targeting India with the latest round of tariffs. Some observers argue that President Trump’s stance partly reflects frustration with India’s unwillingness to acquiesce to specific demands in ongoing trade negotiations.
“India’s long-standing protectionist measures, including high tariffs on agricultural products and subsidies on medicines, have become a point of friction in U.S.-India trade negotiations,” Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief Asia-Pacific economist at Natixis in Hong Kong, told Al Jazeera.
By contrast, President Trump has taken a significantly softer approach toward China, avoiding similar punitive energy tariffs. Some observers believe he may be targeting now to strike a wide-ranging trade deal with Beijing that includes access to China’s rare earth metals.
Rare earths are a group of 17 elements that are essential to a variety of manufacturing industries, including those in the United States, such as auto parts and military technology. China has long dominated the mining and processing of rare earth minerals and currently restricts exports of 12 of them.
As a result, “China has much more influence[than India]as recent export restrictions show,” García Herrero explained.
China’s latest export restrictions, which require foreign companies to obtain special approval from the Chinese government if they want to buy certain rare earth products, were introduced this week ahead of President Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month.
In response to Beijing’s move, President Trump threatened to impose new 100% tariffs on Chinese exports starting November 1. Still, he said he expected his scheduled meeting with Xi to take place, telling reporters last Friday: “I plan to attend regardless, so it will probably take place,” he told reporters last Friday.
How dependent is India on Russian energy?
Russia is New Delhi’s largest source of oil. India imported 4.5 million barrels of crude oil per day in September, according to shipping analysis firm Kpler. Of this amount, Russia supplied approximately 1.6 million barrels per day, or 34% of the total.
This represents an eye-popping 2,250 percent increase compared to January 2022, a month before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At the time, India was importing only 68,000 barrels of oil per day from Russia.
Meanwhile, India is the second largest buyer of Russian energy after China, according to data from the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research (CREA). China bought 47% of Russia’s crude oil exports in September, followed by India with 38%.
Why is India buying so much Russian oil now?
In December 2022, several Western countries imposed a $60 price cap on Russian crude oil in an effort to reduce Russia’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine. This forced Moscow to compete more aggressively on price if buyers wanted access to Western shipping and insurance services.
However, thanks to lower prices for Russian oil, New Delhi’s current account deficit has narrowed, dropping by 65% from the previous year in 2023-24. Elsewhere, Reliance Industries (RIL), currently India’s largest importer of Russian offshore crude, was the biggest corporate winner.
Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery, India’s largest private facility, imported only 3% of Russian crude oil in 2021. By 2025, that percentage has jumped to about 50%, according to CREA.
CREA also estimates that the Jamnagar refinery exported $85.9 billion of refined products globally from February 2022 to July 2025. By the way, an estimated 42 percent of that ($36 billion) went to countries that sanctioned Russia.
How did India react to President Trump’s latest claims?
India has not formally confirmed President Trump’s claim that he has promised to stop buying Russian crude oil.
Despite President Trump’s punitive tariffs, New Delhi has consistently defended its purchases of Russian oil during the Ukraine war. Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Shri Randhir Jaiswal reiterated that position on Thursday. However, he also suggested that India may seek to diversify its import base.
In an official statement, he said, “Energy price stability and security of supply have been the twin goals of our country’s energy policy. This includes regionalization and, where necessary, diversification of energy procurement.”
He added: “As for the US, we have been seeking to expand our energy procurement for many years…The current administration has expressed interest in deepening energy cooperation with India. Discussions are ongoing.”
“Over the next three to six months, we expect the U.S.-India trade relationship to stabilize to a tense but realistic détente, with tariffs eased as India curbs Russian oil imports, paving the way for a mini-deal by early 2026,” Garcia Herrero said.
