US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signalled the potential withdrawal of additional 25 per cent tariffs on India following a sharp reduction in Indian imports of Russian oil.
“Indian purchases by their refineries of Russian oil have collapsed. So that is a success. The tariffs are still on, 25 per cent tariffs for Russian oil are still on. I would imagine there is a path to take them off,” Bessent said in an interview with Politico at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Trade tensions escalated in August when the US President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent including a 25 per cent levy in response to India’s imports of Russian crude.
India’s imports of cheaper Russian oil in December dropped to their lowest in two years, lifting OPEC’s share of Indian oil imports to an 11-month high.
Bessent’s remarks came amid heightened pressure from Trump, who earlier warned that tariffs could increase further unless India curtails its Russian oil purchases.
Bessent, however, criticised EU’s claim that the economic block opted against joining joint tariffs on India’s imports of Russian oil in order to prioritise a long-negotiated free trade agreement, which is expected to be finalised next week.
Bessent’s remark also comes ahead of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to India, aimed at sealing what she has described as “the mother of all deals.”
Describing US efforts to enforce 25 per cent penalties on third-country buyers since 2025 as a “success,” Bessent told Politico, “I will also point out that our virtue signalling European allies refused to do it. Because they wanted to sign this big trade deal with India.”
He further accused Europe of “financing the war against themselves” by purchasing Russian oil products refined in India. “In the ultimate act of irony and stupidity, guess who was buying the refined products?” Bessent said. “The Europeans,” he added.
Meanwhile, Republican senator Lindsey Graham has proposed a bill to impose a 500 per cent tariff on secondary purchases and reselling of Russian oil. Speaking about the proposal on Fox News, Bessent said: “We will see whether that passes. We don’t believe that President Trump needs that authority, that he can do it under IEEPA, but that the Senate wants to give him that authority.”
In December, India fell to third place among buyers of Russian fossil fuels after Reliance Industries and state-owned refiners sharply reduced crude oil imports from Moscow.