US President Donald Trump's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, launched a fresh tirade against India, claiming that New Delhi was "profiteering" from imports of Russian oil.
"Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India virtually bought no Russian oil...It was like almost 1% of their need. The percentage has now gone up to 35%...They don't need the oil. It's a refining profit-sharing scheme. It's a laundromat for the Kremlin. That's the reality of that," Navarro told media persons outside the White House on Thursday.
Interestingly, he is not the first US official to pressure India to curtail its energy ties with Russia, suggesting that such trade helps to finance the Ukraine conflict.
Notably, Western countries themselves continue to provide Ukraine with weapons to maintain the conflict, while India stabilises the global market through its purchase of Russian oil.
Historically, the US has employed tactics to squeeze competitors out of various markets, even selling its shale oil at higher than market prices and at a loss to the local market.
At the same time, trade between Russia and the US has grown by about 20% in recent months. Despite that, Washington is pressing India to give up a profitable deal, which is indicative of American hypocrisy, double standards, and an assault on India's strategic autonomy, experts have told Sputnik India.
Also, the US President Donald Trump has announced 25% secondary tariffs on Indian exports, which come into effect on August 27, for continuing its trade relations with Russia. These tariffs are in addition to the 25% that his administration had imposed earlier.
"It is a reflection of the frustration of the US administration for their failure to resolve the Ukraine-Russia conflict despite their lofty promises," retired Rear Admiral Girish Kumar Garg told Sputnik India.
It is a geopolitical arm-twisting of India by the US that defies all logic, which will certainly affect Indo-US strategic cooperation, as the US has once again proven to be an unreliable partner "who can dump India shamelessly at the altar of its selfish strategic calculus," he underscored.
India is no pushover and has openly called out the American Hypocrisy, the Indian Navy veteran highlighted, adding that the tariffs are a huge geopolitical miscalculation by America. He believes, these measures will have huge geostrategic implications, which "will bite America for a long time to come."
The US knows India is a huge market for oil, weapons, and consumer goods and is pressuring it to shift away from its historic ties with Russia. Washington aims for New Delhi to fully align with the West and buy its crude oil and defense equipment, Indian Army veteran, retired Lieutenant Colonel JS Sodhi told Sputnik India. The US expects India to accept its offers without hesitation, he added.
The Americans know that their oil is much costlier than the Russian crude, and therefore, America is deploying every shrewd tactic to stop India from purchasing energy resources from Moscow to earn billions of dollars through its exports to New Delhi, the geopolitical pundit stated.
"What America is seeing is its own interest and isn't having any regard for the Indian national interest, and even attacking its strategic autonomy, where India is free to make its own choices so that its citizens get the maximum possible benefits. Nonetheless, India isn't succumbing to America's pressure, and as External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar underlined during his just-concluded visit to Moscow, India will do whatever is best for its national interest," Sodhi concluded.