US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that India has stopped buying Russian oil after President Donald Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff. Speaking at the World Economic Forum, he said in an interview with Fox Business that the US is considering tougher penalties for countries that continue to buy Russian crude, especially China.
Bessent shared these remarks as Washington weighs a bill that could impose far higher tariffs, as much as 500 percent, on countries still purchasing oil from Russia.
‘India has geared down and stopped,’ Bessent says
According to Bessent, India began purchasing Russian oil after the Ukraine conflict started. However, he said that the situation has now changed following the tariff imposed by the Trump administration. “India started buying Russian oil after the conflict began,” Bessent said. “But President Trump put a 25 percent tariff on them, and India has geared down and has stopped buying Russian oil.”
Meanwhile, India has consistently defended its decision to buy Russian crude in the past. The government has said its energy choices are based on global market conditions and the need to ensure affordable fuel supplies for its population.
A bill that could bring 500% tariffs
Bessent was speaking in the context of a proposed Russia Sanctions Bill, authored by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. The bill would allow the US to impose tariffs of at least 500 percent on countries that continue to buy Russian oil. The legislation has already received political clearance from President Trump, but is still awaiting approval in the US Senate.
“On the 500 percent tariff on the buyers of Russian oil, that is a proposal that Senator Graham has in front of the Senate,” Bessent said. “We don’t believe that President Trump needs that authority, that he can do it under IEPA, but the Senate wants to give him that authority.”
While India was mentioned positively, Bessent directed his strongest criticism at Europe and China. “We have Europe buying Russian oil, still, four years later,” he said. “They are financing the war against themselves.”
China, one of Russia’s biggest energy buyers, remains the main target of the proposed punitive tariffs. US officials have repeatedly said that China’s purchase of discounted Russian oil is helping fund Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Senator Lindsey Graham has said the bill would give President Trump “tremendous leverage” over countries such as China, India and Brazil. He argued that the move would help stop what he described as the financing of “Putin’s bloodbath against Ukraine.”
Last October, Bessent had claimed that around 85 US senators were willing to give Trump the authority to impose tariffs of up to 500 percent on China for buying Russian oil.
Trump speaks at White House briefing
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump joined a White House briefing on Tuesday to mark the first anniversary of his inauguration. He spoke for more than an hour, speaking about his administration’s immigration, economic and foreign policies.
Trump also warned that he could use other tools to raise revenue if the Supreme Court rules that the tariffs he imposed last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are illegal.
“I have to use something else. I mean, you know, take a look at the word ‘license.’ Take a look at other things,” Trump said. “I mean, we have other alternatives, but what we’re doing now is the best, the strongest, the fastest, the easiest, the least complicated.”
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of the tariffs later this term. If the court finds them illegal, companies across the US could become eligible for hundreds of billions of dollars in refund payments.