NEW DELHI, Sept 5: India on Friday rejected as “inaccurate and misleading” White House Trade advisor Peter Navarro’s offensive comments on New Delhi for its procurement of Russian crude oil.
“We have seen the inaccurate and misleading statements made by Navarro, and obviously reject them,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
Last week, Navarro accused India of being an “oil money laundromat for the Kremlin” and described it as “strategic freeloading” New Delhi continuing to buy Russian weapons while urging American defence firms to transfer sensitive military technologies and set up manufacturing plants in India.
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“If India, the world’s largest democracy, wants to be treated like a strategic partner of the US, it needs to act like one,” he said, in a series of social media posts attacking New Delhi.
The relations between New Delhi and Washington are on a downturn after President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent including a 25 per cent additional duties for India’s purchase of Russian crude oil.
The 25 per cent tariff has already come into effect and additional levies are due from August 27.
India described the US action as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable” and even wondered why it has been singled out for the punitive action. Surprisingly, the US has not imposed any punitive measure on China, the largest importer of Russian crude oil.
Defending its purchase of Russian crude oil, India has been maintaining that its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics.
India turned to purchasing Russian oil sold at a discount after Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow and shunned its supplies over its invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022.
Consequently, from a mere 1.7 per cent share in total oil imports in 2019-20, Russia’s share increased to 35.1 per cent in 2024-25, and it is now the biggest oil supplier to India. (PTI)
