statistics<\/a>, India exported nearly $87.3bn in goods and services to the US in 2024, dwarfing the amount of US exports to India, which totalled $41.5bn.<\/p>\nRelations have further been strained by Trump\u2019s claim that he brokered a peace between India and Pakistan after an armed standoff in May. Modi has denied any such foreign involvement.<\/p>\n
Pressure to end Ukraine war<\/p>\n
Trump has also grown increasingly frustrated with Russia, despite his previously warm relationship with that country\u2019s president, Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n
Upon taking office for a second term, Trump positioned himself as a \u201cpeacemaker\u201d. He had previously pledged to end the war between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours if re-elected, a pledge he has since walked back, saying it was meant to be \u201csarcastic\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Trump has pressed forward with peace negotiations between the two countries. But with no ceasefire in sight, Trump announced in July a deadline for Russia to wind down its military campaign \u2014 a deadline that expires on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Russia first launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the war has since become a costly, slow-grinding conflict.<\/p>\n
In his executive order on Wednesday, Trump left open the possibility that other importers of Russian oil products could be subject to higher tariffs, just as India had.<\/p>\n
He also reserved the right to \u201cmodify\u201d the executive order if any retaliatory action were taken, or if countries like India \u201ctake significant steps\u201d to align with US policy goals.<\/p>\n
The tariff announcement followed meetings taken by Trump\u2019s top diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow aimed at pushing Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval was likewise in Russia this week, with Reuters reporting that he was discussing the pressure to end Indian purchases of Russian petrol.<\/p>\n
While hosting Apple CEO Tim Cook in the Oval Office, Trump was asked whether a breakthrough in the ceasefire talks with Russia would prompt him to drop the tariffs against India.<\/p>\n
Trump largely dodged the question. \u201c\u200aWe\u2019ll determine that later, but right now, they\u2019re paying a 50-percent tariff,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n
Why target India?<\/p>\n
Reporting from outside the White House, Al Jazeera correspondent Kimberly Halkett pointed out that other countries besides India have continued to import Russian oil products, but they were absent from Trump\u2019s executive order.<\/p>\n
China, for instance, remains the top buyer of Russian oil, and Turkiye is its third largest consumer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a list of countries that buy Russian oil. India\u2019s number two, and China number one,\u201d Halkett explained.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aThe United States, even the European Union, buy from Russia themselves. They buy fertilisers. So what is it about India? \u200aWell, India\u2019s buying it at a very steep discount from Russia, this oil and gas. They say it\u2019s to meet their commercial needs for the more than 1.4 billion living in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Halkett explained that Trump officials perceive that specific trade to be a threat to US national security.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aThey see this as a threat to US interests because this is funding directly the Russian war machine, just as the United States is trying to wind down Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine,\u201d Halkett said.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aSo this, in the eyes of the United States, is counter to US interests, and India is the biggest offender in their eyes at this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump himself faced questions about whether the situation amounted to a double standard against India. One reporter asked: \u200aWhy are you singling India out for these additional tariffs?<\/p>\n
Trump sidestepped the question. \u201cIt\u2019s only been eight hours. So let\u2019s see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"United States President Donald Trump has issued an executive order imposing an additional 25 percent tariff on goods…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[12633,32,1700,1234,22817,12,28137,285,332,1219],"class_list":{"0":"post-323900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-business-and-economy","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-government","12":"tag-narendra-modi","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-oil-and-gas","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-russia","17":"tag-trade-war"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114984757881368862","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}