GG News Bureau
New Delhi 5th August– India has given a firm and unapologetic response to the recent threat by former US President Donald Trump of “substantial” tariff increases on Indian products for its continued imports of oil from Russia. In no uncertain terms, New Delhi has batted back strongly, citing economic sense, national interest, and the glaring hypocrisy of the West itself.
Trump’s Threat, India’s Response: “No Half Measures”
Indian authorities have met President Trump’s recent comments, intended to coerce India to sever energy relations with Moscow, with a frigid but measured response. India will not make its sovereign choices at the cost of political optics of foreign critics, said senior government sources, particularly when the same critics maintain their own backdoor trade with Russia.
India’s economic justification isn’t just warranted—it’s necessary for domestic peace. India saved ₹2.21 lakh crore (nearly $26.3 billion) in the last three years by choosing discounted Russian crude over more expensive Gulf options. This has helped control inflation directly, protecting the Indian middle class and poor from the international energy crisis triggered by the Ukraine conflict.
A Strategic Imperative, Not a Diplomatic Luxury
In contrast, some Western economies continued discretionary trade with Russia.
This included luxury goods and services.
India did not follow that path.
Its imports were focused on low-cost energy access.
For a fast-growing, emerging economy, that was a lifeline.
It was a strategic, not indulgent, choice.
India’s stand is not one of obstinacy but of strategic sovereignty. It has consistently held that national interest would never take a backseat, and that lectures on morality from countries who themselves engage in selective trade with Russia are unacceptable and not credible.
The Western Hypocrisy Is Well Documented
The numbers tell the tale:
In 2024, the European Union exported €67.5 billion worth of goods and €17.2 billion worth of services to Russia.
Europe had a record 16.5 million tonnes of LNG imports from Russia—essentially heating their homes using the very same gas they publicly denounced.
Western imports were not just energy. They kept purchasing fertilizers, metals, chemicals, and industrial equipment from Russia—essential to their economies but labeled “sanction violations” when India did the same.
And the United States? The alleged leader of the anti-Russia sanctions coalition continues to import Russian uranium, palladium, fertilizers, and chemicals. But it’s India that is condemned for purchasing cheap oil.
India’s Stance: Firm, Rational, and Transparent
India’s move to acquire Russian oil is clear, legal according to international law, and consistent with its development priorities. When the price of oil all over the world was skyrocketing, India’s import from Russia not only provided energy security but also enabled the country to keep its fiscal prudence and control inflation—a step, which global organizations like the IMF and World Bank have indirectly recognized as prudent.
India’s foreign affairs ministry has already made it clear that it does not take “instructions” from any other country regarding its strategic choices. The implicit U.S. government support in 2022, which discreetly urged Indian Russian imports to stabilize the global oil market, further reveals the double game in Trump’s bluster.
The Bottom Line: India Won’t Be Lectured
Targeting India but giving the West a free pass is not diplomacy—it’s duplicity. India rose to global power not by aligning blindly with blocs, but by defending its own interests, consistently and transparently.
If the tariffs are implemented, India is willing to retaliate with equal measure .Being very well aware that its economic base is stronger and its global standing higher than ever before.
In our multipolar world today, strategic autonomy is no luxury—yet a necessity. And India has demonstrated that it is not only willing, but more than capable, of defending it.
