India on Friday questioned “selective exemptions” from sanctions by the US on buying oil from Russian companies, while singling out India for penal tariffs and indicated that decisions like sanctions have to be taken by the world as a whole.
“Germany is asking for exemption from US sanctions on oil. The UK probably has already got an exemption on procuring oil (from sanctioned Russian companies). Why single out India?,” Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said in his intervention at the Berlin Global Dialogue.
The carve-out that the UK has got and what Germany is asking is for local subsidiaries of these Russian companies operating in their countries. Goyal also pointed out that Rosneft’s subsidiary in India has been sanctioned by the European Union.
While some countries get exemptions and are not subject to additional tariffs by the US for buying Russian crude oil, India gets slapped with additional 25% tariffs, the minister said. “Despite this India does not take decisions on the pressure of the moment,” he said.
“We have accepted if there is a tariff on us there is a tariff on us. We are looking at how to overcome that. We are looking at new markets, we are looking at stronger demand impetus within the Indian economy.”
He also criticised the EU for its safeguard duties on steel, which have been in force since 2018 saying that this policy is an example of double standards while speaking of open markets. The minister also said that the EU is creating too many regulations for its own good.