India will continue to buy Russian oil despite Trump tariffs
The US president announced earlier this week that he planned to impose an unspecified penalty on India if it did not cut off imports of Russian crude oil, in addition to a general 25pc tariff.
Mr Trump suggested on Friday that India had reduced the amount of oil it had purchased from Russia. He told reporters: 'I understand that India is no longer going to be buying oil from Russia. That's what I heard. I don't know if that's right or not. That is a good step. We will see what happens.'
However, two senior Indian officials told the New York Times that there had been no change in policy, adding that New Delhi had 'not given any direction to oil companies' to cut back on imports.
India has dramatically increased its purchases of Russian oil since Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It now sources over a third of its oil from Moscow — up from less than one per cent before the war.
Ukraine's allies have called on the US to impose hefty secondary tariffs against Russia's main trading partners, including India and China, in a bid to force Putin to end the war.
But Mr Trump suggested earlier this week that he was not sure the tariffs would work.
'I don't know if it's going to affect Russia, because he [Putin] wants to, obviously, probably keep the war going,' he said.
'But we're going to put tariffs and the various things you put on. It may or may not affect them. But it could.'
The report came as at least two vessels loaded with Russian oil bound for refiners in India were diverted to other destinations after Mr Trump's sanctions.
Sanctions were imposed on more than 115-Iran linked individuals, entities, and ships, some of which transport Russian oil.
According to trade sources, three ships – the Aframaxes Tagor and Guanyin, and the Suezmax Tassos – were scheduled to deliver Russian oil to Indian ports this month. All three are under US sanctions.
Tagor was bound for Chennai on India's east coast, while Guanyin and Tassos were headed to ports in western India, according to Russian ports data.
Tagor is now heading to Dalian in China, while Tassos is diverting to Port Said in Egypt, the data shows. Guanyin remains on course to Sikka in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
An initial plan for imposing sanctions on Russia came from Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator, who threatened to put 500 per cent tariffs on Moscow and its trading partners.
But Mr Trump appears to have watered down those threats, suggesting last month the tariff level would sit at around 100 per cent.
A recent report found that China and India have already found ways to disregard or even evade Western sanctions, including by using front companies.
Both nations have been found to be directly contributing to Russia's war effort, which includes a $1.4m explosive compound sales agreement between a private Indian company and two Russian companies.
India was also the world's largest arms importer in 2024 behind Ukraine and Russia was its largest supplier, according to the defence think tank Sipri.
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