NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro on Friday renewed his attack on India, accusing New Delhi of using American trade dollars to finance Russia’s war in Ukraine. Justifying Washington’s newly imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Indian imports, Navarro said that Indian refiners, working with “silent Russian partners,” were making huge profits by refining Russian oil and selling it in international markets while “Russia pockets hard currency to fund its war on Ukraine.”In a post on X, Navarro said, “India uses our dollars to buy discounted Russian crude. This isn’t just about India’s unfair trade—it’s about cutting off the financial lifeline India has extended to Putin’s war machine.”According to Navarro, “Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian oil made up less than 1% of India’s imports. Today? Over 30% — more than 1.5 million barrels a day. This surge isn’t driven by domestic demand—it’s driven by Indian profiteers and carries an added price of blood and devastation in Ukraine.”“India’s Big Oil lobby has turned the largest democracy in the world into a massive refining hub and oil money laundromat for the Kremlin,” he claimed, adding that India now exports more than 1 million barrels a day in refined petroleum, over half of the Russian crude it imports. Navarro said the Biden administration “largely looked the other way at this madness,” while President Trump was confronting it directly. “A 50% tariff — 25% for unfair trade and 25% for national security — is a direct response. If India, the world’s largest democracy, wants to be treated like a strategic partner of the US, it needs to act like one. The road to peace in Ukraine runs through New Delhi.”The remarks follow Donald Trump’s decision earlier this week to double tariffs on Indian imports, citing both trade imbalances and national security concerns. Navarro told Bloomberg TV that it was “real easy” for India to get the penalty removed by halting Russian oil purchases, but accused New Delhi of being “arrogant” in insisting it was their sovereign right.“India, you’re the biggest democracy in the world, okay? Act like one… side with the democracies…(instead) you’re getting in bed with the authoritarians,” he said, reminding India of its long-standing border dispute with China. “These are not your friends folks, okay? And the Russians. I mean, come on!”Navarro also controversially referred to the Russia-Ukraine conflict as “Modi’s war,” insisting India’s purchases were funding Moscow’s aggression. When an anchor corrected him, saying “you mean Putin’s war,” Navarro doubled down, repeating it was “Modi’s war.”While Navarro praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “a great leader” and India as “a mature democracy with intelligent people running it,” he maintained that New Delhi’s oil deals with Moscow undermined its claim to be a trusted US partner.His comments have drawn criticism within US policy circles, with some analysts pointing out that Washington has not penalised China or the European Union for continuing to buy Russian energy. Others noted that the US itself imports Russian nuclear fuel and precious metals.
