Donald Trump’s trade advisor, Peter Navarro, on Monday once again took aim at India over its imports of Russian oil, branding the purchases as “blood money” while accusing New Delhi of profiteering from the Ukraine war. His remarks, posted on X (formerly Twitter), were promptly met with fact-checks through the platform’s Community Notes feature.
In his latest post, Navarro declared, “More bullshit from X. Fact: India didn’t buy Russian oil in large quantities before Russia invaded Ukraine. It’s blood money and people are dying. Stick that up your keister Mother Jones and shame on you.”
This comes after he alleged that Indian “special interests” were influencing dialogue in the United States. “On earlier post, you can see Indian special interests trying to interfere with domestic dialogue with lies about India buying Russian oil. Should X present this crap as comments from ‘diverse viewpoints’?” he wrote.
Fact-Checks From X Community Notes
X fact-checkers swiftly flagged Navarro’s posts, stressing that India’s oil purchases were lawful and tied to energy security. The note clarified:
• “Community Notes aren’t run by ‘Indian special interests.’ They’re crowdsourced globally & voted to reduce bias.”
• “India’s Russian oil imports are confirmed by its own govt & global agencies.”
• “While India has some tariffs, the US has a trade surplus with it in services. The US also continues to import certain commodities from Russia, which is hypocritical.”
A prior note also underlined Washington’s continued import of Russian commodities, including uranium, calling out the “double standard”.
Musk Defends Community Notes
X owner Elon Musk indirectly addressed the controversy on Sunday without naming Navarro. Writing on the platform, Musk said: “On this platform, the people decide the narrative. You hear all sides of an argument. Community Notes corrects everyone, no exceptions. Notes, data, and code is public source. Grok provides further fact-checking.”
Navarro, however, dismissed the rebuttals, calling them “crap notes.” He lashed out at Musk, saying: “Wow. @elonmusk is letting propaganda into people’s posts. That crap note below is just that. Crap. India buys Russian oil solely to profiteer. It didn’t buy any before Russia invaded Ukraine. Indian govt spin machine moving high tilt. Stop killing Ukrainians. Stop taking American jobs.”
Tariff War, Escalating Criticism
Navarro’s criticism has sharpened in the wake of Trump’s secondary tariffs on India over oil imports from Russia as levies on Indian exports exceed 50 per cent — among the steepest in Trump’s updated trade policies.
Since the announcement, Navarro has repeatedly linked India’s energy dealings to the Russia-Ukraine war, going as far as to call it “Modi’s war” and accusing New Delhi of serving as a “laundromat for the Kremlin.”
