China old buyer of Russian energy, while India is not: Navarro exposes US's illogic

In an attempt to justify U.S.'s differential stand against China and India for Russian oil purchase, Donald Trump aide Peter Navarro has come up with a strange logic, ahead of the next round of trade talks between New Delhi and Washington D.C.

U.S. President Donald Trump's counsellor on trade matters, Peter Navarro, said China had long been sourcing energy from Moscow, while New Delhi has not.

Interestingly, U.S.'s unfair treatment to India may have something else at its core. At a time when the U.S. itself is heavily dependent on China for rare earth magnets, it cannot afford a direct engagement with Beijing regarding its Russian oil purchases.

In an interaction with a news channel, Navarro claimed that India only started purchasing oil from Russia since 2022. This, he said, has fuelled the Russia-Ukraine war as Russia has been purchasing weapons by supplying oil to such economies.

It may be noted that the Russia - Ukraine war was fuelled by Ukraine's ambitions to join NATO, and Putin's disagreement to it, as it would have brought the military alliance of 32 nations close to Russia's doorsteps.

Navarro's make-believe world view comes at a time when India - U.S. trade talks are set to resume.

In July end, the talks had collapsed in wake of penal tariffs of 25% over and above the liberation day tariff of 25%, taking the overall tariff burden to 50%.

Meanwhile, the two countries are set to continue their next round of bilateral talks, with assistant U.S. trade representative for South and Central Asia visiting India to discuss the trade deal between the two countries.

Just last week, Trump had revealed that the two countries are continuing with their trade negotiations, calling PM Modi and India a ‘good friend’ of his. To which, Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded saying that the two nations are ‘close friends and natural partners.’