US President Donald Trump has acknowledged that his decision to impose secondary tariffs on India was part of his push to end the Ukraine war, the White House confirmed on Tuesday.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump has been applying “tremendous public pressure” through actions such as sanctions on India to force Russia to the negotiating table. “The President wants this war to end as quickly as possible,” she told reporters, rejecting suggestions that further delay was necessary before talks.
The comments came a day after Trump hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, where the two leaders discussed a possible trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
US Criticism of India’s Russian Oil Trade
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued that India has been “profiteering” from the Ukraine conflict by dramatically boosting its purchase and resale of discounted Russian oil.
“India had less than 1% of its oil from Russia before the war, and now it’s up to 42%,” Bessent said in an interview with CNBC. “They’ve made $16 billion in excess profits. This arbitrage is unacceptable.”
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro went further, accusing India of “fueling Russia’s war machine” and pledging to “hit India where it hurts” through tariffs and trade barriers.
He described India’s actions as “opportunistic” and “corrosive” to Western efforts to isolate Russia, warning that American and European taxpayers were footing the bill for Ukraine’s defence while India profited from oil arbitrage.
Trump’s India Tariffs
Trump has previously said that his tariff penalty on India, which effectively doubled duties to 50% on certain imports, helped compel Putin to consider negotiations.
“India is the second-largest buyer of Russian oil, close to China. By raising tariffs, I essentially took them out of the Russian oil market,” Trump said in a recent interview, adding that “everything has an impact.”
