US President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated that India will sharply cut down its imports of Russian oil by the end of this year, following an assurance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trump said the reduction would happen gradually, adding that India plans to bring it “down to almost nothing” by year-end.

“India, as you know, told me that they would stop. It is a process; you can’t just stop it. But by the end of the year, they will be down to almost nothing. That’s a big thing, that is almost 40 per cent of the oil. India has been great. Spoke to Prime Minister Modi yesterday and they have been absolutely great,” Trump said while speaking to the media from the Oval Office during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

India denies, Trump reiterates tariff threat

Trump had mentioned on Tuesday that he had spoken with PM Modi and said their discussion went well which mainly focused on trade, and that as per Trump, PM Modi was very interested in. Earlier, Trump had claimed that PM Modi had assured him that India would gradually stop buying Russian oil, to which MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal responded saying that there had been no phone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump discussing Russian oil.

Jaiswal had said that he was not aware of any such conversation that day between the two leaders. He explained that the last time Prime Minister Modi and President Trump spoke was on October 9, when Modi had congratulated Trump on the success of the Gaza peace plan.

While speaking to reporters on Air Force One, President Trump was asked about India’s denial about a phone call with PM Modi. “Well then, they’re going to just keep paying a lot of tariffs if they said that, but I don’t believe they said that. No, I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” Trump said. He further added, “But if they want to say that, then they’ll just continue to pay massive tariffs, and they don’t want to do that.”

India’s Russian oil imports

The United States has already put 50% tariffs on some Indian products to push India to reduce its dependence on Russian oil. India, however, has continued to buy oil from Russia even during the war in Ukraine. The Indian government has said many times that its energy policy focuses on keeping fuel prices steady and making sure there is enough supply for its large and growing population.

Trump’s remarks were in line with Washington’s larger effort to limit Russia’s war funding. As part of this move, the US Treasury has now imposed sanctions on two major Russian oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, with the aim to cut the flow of money to the Kremlin.