'Relieve the tariff,' US senator says Indian envoy asked him to convey to Trump amid oil squeeze

New York/Washington: US Senator Lindsey Graham has claimed that Indian Ambassador to the US Vinay Kwatra informed him about New Delhi reducing its purchases of Russian oil and asked him to convey to President Donald Trump to "relieve the tariff" imposed on India.

Graham, accompanying Trump on Air Force One Sunday, spoke about his tariff bill that seeks to impose 500 per cent levies on imports from countries buying Russian oil.

Also Read: US could raise tariffs on India if they don't help on Russian oil issue: Trump


He said that to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, pressure must be put on Russian President Vladimir Putin's customers. Trump said that the sanctions are hurting Russia very badly, and then mentioned India.

Graham then said that the US put a 25 per cent 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 they are buying less Russian oil," Graham said.

He added that the Indian envoy conveyed to him, "Would you tell the President to relieve the tariff?"

There were no immediate comments from Indian officials on Graham's claim.

"This stuff works..., but if you are buying cheap Russian oil, keeping Putin's war machine going, we are trying to give the President the ability to make that a hard choice by tariffs. I really do believe that what he (Trump) did with India is the chief reason India is now buying substantially less Russian oil," Graham said.

Trump then said Prime Minister Narendra Modi knew he was not happy with India's purchases of Russian oil and warned that Washington can raise tariffs on New Delhi "very quickly", which would be "very bad for them."

Also Read: India must end Russian oil ambiguity as tariffs loom: GTRI
"They (India) wanted to make me happy, basically. Modi is a very good man; he is a good guy. He knew I was not happy, and it was important to make me happy. They do trade, and we can raise tariffs on them very quickly. It would be very bad for them," Trump said.

Kwatra last month hosted some US Senators, including Graham, Richard Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse, Peter Welch, Dan Sullivan and Markwayne Mullin at India House, the official residence of the Ambassador of India in Washington, DC.

"Had fruitful conversations on the India-US partnership from energy and defence cooperation to trade and important global developments. Grateful for their support for a stronger India-US relationship," Kwatra had said in a post on X.

Trump has imposed a 50 per cent tariff on India, the highest in the world, including 25 per cent for Delhi's purchases of Russian oil.

India buys about 88 per cent of its crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel, from overseas.

Russian oil made up hardly 0.2 per cent of all crude oil that India imported till 2021. After Moscow invaded Ukraine, Russian oil was available at a discount to international benchmarks due to Western sanctions, and was quickly lapped up by Indian refiners.

According to real-time data analytics company Kpler, Russian crude imports into India are expected to fall to around 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, down from 1.84 million bpd in November, marking the lowest level since December 2022.

Indian refiners continue to buy Russian crude from non-sanctioned entities.

India, the world's third-largest oil importer, became the largest buyer of discounted Russian crude after Western countries shunned Moscow following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Traditionally reliant on Middle Eastern oil, India sharply ramped up Russian imports as sanctions and reduced European demand made barrels available at steep discounts, pushing its share from under 1 per cent to nearly 40 per cent of total crude imports.

In December, Russia remained the country's top supplier, but its share fell to less than a quarter of all oil imports from about a third in November.