25% additional tariffs pushed India to cut Russian oil imports, US can raise it 'very quickly': Trump
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US Senator Lindsey Graham, during a presser along with US President Donald Trump while they were aboard Air Force One, said he “genuinely” believes that after Trump imposed additionally 25% levy on Indian exports to the US, India has decided to cut oil imports from Russia. US President Donald Trump, on the other hand, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi knew he (Trump) was not happy with India's purchases of Russian oil and that it could raise tariffs on New Delhi "very quickly".
Graham said that he met Indian Ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, last month at his house, where he claimed that Kwatra told him to convey to Trump that India is now buying less Russian oil and that the US administration should relieve the 25% tariff.
“The President imposed a 25% tariff on India for buying Russian oil. I was at the Indian ambassador’s house about a month ago, and all he wanted to talk about was how India is buying less Russian oil. Would you tell the President to relieve the tariff? This approach works. I hope we bring the bill up soon. It allows tariffs ranging from 0 to 50,000, with the President choosing the number,” Graham told reporters on Sunday local time. India, meanwhile, has not issued any statement on this matter so far.
He added after Trump’s actions against India, the country has reduced the imports from Russia. “If you’re buying cheap Russian oil and keeping Putin’s war machine going, we want to give the President the ability to make that a hard choice through tariffs. I genuinely believe what he did with India is the main reason India is now buying substantially less Russian oil.”
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Jumping on to add, Trump said after he initiated harsh import duty on Indian exports, he believes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to “make me happy”, and “that mattered to him”. “It was a good thing. He’s (Modi) a good guy. They do trade with us, and we can raise tariffs on them very quickly. People are afraid of that,” Trump added.
Trump's fresh warning comes amid the US tagetting India over its trade ties with Russia even as New Delhi has always defended its oil purchases as “essential domestic energy security”.
As a sidenote, India and the US are currently working on issues towards reaching an agreement on bilatral trade between the two countries. Just last month, a delegation of trade officials from the US Trade Representative (USTR) visited New Delhi and held "productive exchanges" on economic ties and mutually-beneficial trade deal.
Before that, Prime Minister Modi and Trump also held a "warm and engaging" telephonic conversations on the issue of trade deal.
Meanwhile, since the US’ strikes on Venezuela and its capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the global geopolitics has become heated, with Russia and China opposing the way Maduro, the head of a state, was captured and taken hostage by the US. Notably, Venezuela holds the world’s largest oil reserves at 303 billion barrels, roughly 17% of the total global oil supply, per the OPEC data.