Russia weighs in on U.S.-India tariff spat

Russia on Tuesday weighed into the growing spat between India and the U.S., with the Kremlin saying New Delhi is free to choose its own trading partners.

Washington and India’s leadership are at loggerheads over imports of Russian oil, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening New Delhi with much steeper tariffs if it continues to purchase the commodity from Russia.

The Kremlin, an important trading partner of India’s and one which had stayed silent as the spat erupted in the last few days, commented Tuesday that Trump’s tariff threats are “attempts to force countries to stop trade relations with Russia.”

“We do not consider such statements to be legitimate,” Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov continued, speaking to reporters Tuesday.

“We believe that sovereign countries should have, and have the right to choose their own trade partners, partners in trade and economic cooperation. And to choose those trade and economic cooperation regimes that are in the interests of a particular country.”

The dispute between Trump and New Delhi is being closely watched by investors after Trump threatened on Monday that he would be “substantially raising” the tariffs on India, although he did not specify the level of the higher levies. The president had threatened a 25% duty on Indian exports, as well as an unspecified “penalty” last week.

He also accused India of buying discounted Russian oil and “selling it on the Open Market for big profits.”

On Tuesday, Trump told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the tariff threshold could be hiked above 25% in the next 24 hours.

“India has not been a good trading partner … so we settled on 25%, but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil, they’re fueling the war machine, and if they’re going to do that, I’m not going to be happy,” Trump said.

India hit back at the U.S. later on Monday, accusing it and the European Union of hypocrisy.

“It is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion [for them],” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Western countries have used sanctions and import restrictions as a way to stifle Moscow’s oil export-generated revenues that fund its war against Ukraine. However, some of Russia’s trading partners, particularly India and China, have continued their purchases of discounted Russian crude that their economies largely rely on.

India and Russia’s trade relationship has grown since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022; Russia became India’s leading oil supplier after the war began, with imports increasing from just under 100,000 barrels per day before the invasion — 2.5% of total imports — to more than 1.8 million barrels per day in 2023 — 39% of overall imports, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said earlier this year.

— CNBC’s Lim Hui Jie contributed reporting to this story.