White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has accused India of enabling Moscow’s war in Ukraine by acting as a “laundromat for the Kremlin” through discounted Russian oil purchases.
He claimed New Delhi refines cheap Russian crude and exports the products at premium prices, while Moscow uses the revenue to fund its military offensive.
“In India, 25 per cent tariffs were put in place because they cheat us on trade. Then 25 per cent because of the Russian oil... They have higher tariffs, Maharaja tariffs. We run a massive trade deficit with them. So that hurts American workers and businesses,” Navarro said, reported by ANI.
Navarro argued that India did not rely on Russian oil before the Ukraine invasion. “Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India bought virtually no Russian oil... The argument now, when this percentage has gone up to 30–35 per cent, that somehow they need Russian oil, is nonsense,” he said.
He also added that Russian refiners had “gotten in bed with Italian refiners” in a scheme to re-export refined products at inflated prices into Europe, Africa and Asia.
He further accused India of “cosying up to Xi Jinping (Chinese President)” while overlooking its role in prolonging the conflict.
“I love India. Modi is a great leader, but please, India, look at your role in the global economy. What you’re doing right now is not creating peace... In many ways, the road to peace runs through New Delhi,” Navarro said.
The comments follow the US announcement of 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods, effective August 27, which combines a baseline duty with two successive 25 per cent levies, citing India’s continued energy trade with Russia.
According to ANI, Navarro’s remarks also drew contrasting responses within the US. Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley urged Washington to treat India as a “prized free and democratic partner” to counter China’s influence, warning that derailing 25 years of momentum in bilateral ties would be a “strategic disaster”.
She called for Donald Trump to hold direct talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi “the sooner the better.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said bilateral trade with India had grown by 20 per cent since Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Navarro has previously launched scathing attacks on India’s energy and defence ties with Moscow. Writing in the Financial Times, he alleged that Indian purchases of discounted Russian crude amounted to “oil laundering” that funded Moscow’s war machine.
He argued that American and European taxpayers were left footing the bill for Ukraine’s defence while India profiteered by refining Russian oil and reselling it globally.
He has also criticised New Delhi’s reliance on Russian arms, claiming around 36 per cent of India’s weapons imports come from Moscow. At the same time, he accused India of demanding technology transfers and local manufacturing as conditions for Western arms sales, a practice he argued eroded US profit margins.
Navarro portrayed these policies as proof that India was “cosying up to both Russia and China” despite Washington’s efforts to deepen ties.
India has pushed back against Washington’s criticism. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told that the US itself had urged India to stabilise energy markets by diversifying imports.
“We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian oil; that is China. We are not the biggest purchasers of LNG, that is the European Union... We are very perplexed at the logic of the argument,” he said.
The ministry of external affairs reiterated that New Delhi’s energy imports are driven by national interest. “It is therefore extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest,” the MEA said.