U.S. President Donald Trump said he spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, with trade emerging as the primary focus of their discussion.

“We talked about a lot of things, but mostly the world of trade,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

He added that energy was also on the agenda, noting that Modi assured him India would be curbing its oil purchases from Russia.

"He's not going to buy much oil from Russia. He wants to see that war end as much as I do," Trump said.

India and China are the two top buyers of Russian seaborne crude exports.

Trump has recently targeted India for its Russian oil purchases, imposing tariffs on Indian exports to the U.S. to discourage the country's crude buying as he seeks to pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine.

The US President has made it clear that a trade deal now hinges on India agreeing to taper off its Russian oil purchases.

Trump has repeated multiple times his claim about Modi’s purported promise to stop the import of Russian oil.

The Centre maintains that the import of discounted Russian oil is helping consumers.

There has been no let-up in Russian oil purchases so far. Tapering the purchases off would take at least a couple of months as Indian refiners have already placed orders that would be delivered in November and early December.

India’s crude imports from Russia in October were around 1.8 million barrels per day (BPD), up by 250,000 BPD month on month and 50,000 BPD year on year.