A senior US lawmaker has criticised President Donald Trump’s tariff policy toward India, alleging that the administration is unfairly targeting New Delhi over its purchase of Russian oil.

“President Trump is grasping for excuses to slap outrageous tariffs on #India," Congressman Brad Sherman said in a social media post on Wednesday.

Sherman, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee as well as the House Financial Services Committee, said Trump has justified the tariffs by citing India’s imports of Russian crude.

“Yet Hungary imports 90% of its crude from Russia with no tariffs. And China, Russia’s biggest oil buyer, hasn’t been hit with sanctions tied to purchasing Russian oil, though it has been hit for other reasons.

“India gets just 21% of its crude from Russia, but our ally is being singled out. The President should reverse this policy immediately,” Sherman said.

His remarks come weeks after the US and India announced that they had reached a framework for an interim trade agreement, with Trump issuing an executive order to remove the 25 per cent punitive tariffs imposed on India over its purchases of Russian oil.

The US president also acknowledged New Delhi’s commitment to halt direct or indirect imports of energy from Moscow and to expand purchases of American energy products.

Under the terms of the trade arrangement, Washington will levy a reduced reciprocal tariff on Indian goods, cutting it from 25 per cent to 18 per cent.