New Delhi: During a press briefing, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar expressed India’s perplexity at the logic given by the US about New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil. Notably, Donald Trump has imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India in two phases for allegedly being the largest buyer of Russian oil along with China.
He said, “Americans have said for the last few years that we should do everything to stabilise the world energy market, including buying oil from Russia”. He made the remarks amid his visit to Moscow to strengthen bilateral ties between the two nations.
Jaishankar further said that China is the bigger buyer of Russian oil than India. He also said that the European Union, not India, is the biggest buyer of LNG. The External Affairs Minister pointed out, “We are not the country that has the biggest trade surge with Russia after 2022; I think there are some countries to the South.”
Surge in trade between India and Russia
Jaishankar also said on Wednesday that the bilateral trade relations between India and Russia have surged dramatically over the past four years. Also, he flagged a widening trade imbalance which must be brought to attention immediately.
He was speaking at the 26th session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological, and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) in Moscow when he said, “Over the last four years, our bilateral trade in goods has increased more than five-fold, from $13 billion in 2021 to an estimated $68 billion in 2024-25, and it continues to grow.”
Jaishankar also threw in a word of caution when he said, “A major trade imbalance has accompanied the growth; it has increased from $6.6 billion to $58.9 billion, about nine times. So we need to address that urgently.”
