"As everyone knows, US President Donald Trump has not only threatened to impose higher import tariffs on products from a number of Russia's trading partners. Such tariffs have already been imposed, for example, on India, our particularly privileged strategic partner, a major consumer of Russian goods, in particular hydrocarbon raw materials. We appreciate the fact that New Delhi has not caved in to pressure and remains committed to the principles of free trade," Lavrov said in an interview with the Indonesian newspaper.
Lavrov also pointed out the inconsistency in U.S. actions, noting that while America had long championed free trade principles, it has recently abandoned them.
Earlier, Trump announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, that India had proposed reducing its tariffs on American goods to almost zero, but claimed that New Delhi should have made this decision "many years ago" and that it was now "getting too late."
He also described the trade relationship between India and the U.S. as "one-sided," accusing India of sending "huge volumes of goods" to the U.S. while purchasing little in return.
In late August, Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on imports from India, raising the total tariff to 50%—one of the highest rates enacted by Washington. This move was reportedly tied to the sharp increase in India’s purchases of Russian oil, which U.S. authorities claimed had grown from less than 1% of Indian oil imports to 42% after 2022. The decision was also influenced by the breakdown of trade negotiations, with five rounds of talks ending without agreement. New Delhi had expected the tariffs to be capped at 15%.