US Treasure Secretary Scott Bessent continued to speak out against India and China’s stance as the biggest purchasers of Russian oil amid the war in Ukraine. In a new interview with Fox News, he suggested this week that while both countries have emerged as major contributors fuelling “Russia’s war machine,” the focus is soon going to switch over from Russian oil to US oil.
Bessent was asked what more the United States can do “financially,” in addition to the pre-existing sanctions in place, to “squeeze on Russia. In his answer, the American treasure secretary held up India and China as “real culprits,” while noting that the Donald Trump government was already doing a lot to curb the situation.
India and China responsible for Russia’s war in Ukraine: Scott Bessent
“In terms of buying Russian oil, they are keep the Russian war machine going,” he said of the two Asian countries. Shifting the focus back to how the US had placed additional 25% tariffs on India, bringing the total to a staggering 50%, he predicted that an upcoming “rebalancing,” which would result in the New Delhi buying lesser Russian oil.
His Fox News host on ‘The Ingraham Angle’ further questioned if the Russian war in Ukraine would have been possible without China and India’s involvement the Russian oil purchases. Bessent curtly replied, “Absolutely not,” adding India and China were “keeping the war going.”
However, the very next second, Scott Bessent asserted his strong belief that India would soon shift its priorities to “rebalancing,” bringing about a “diminishment of Russia oil in favour of US oil.” With his recent admissions, the senior Trump admin official basically insinuated that the Republican president’s tariff regime was to thank for in this arena.
In yet another interaction with Fox Business late September, Bessent also pointed the proverbial gun at Europe. Having already suggested before that India was possibly headed toward easing off on its oil purchases from Russia, he said, “But the perverse thing is that Europe is buying the oil that India refines. They are funding the war against themselves.”
The US treasury secretary’s statement echoes what Energy Secretary Chris Wright said at the Foreign Press Centre in New York. At the time, he presented numerous other options for India to pick from instead of its sole reliance on Russian oil. “There are lots of oil exporters in the world. India doesn’t need to buy Russian oil. India buys Russian oil because it is cheaper,” he told ANI.
He further argued that the US also had lots of oil to sell, just like “everybody else.” Noting that the country had no intentions to “punish” India, Wright pushed that the Trump government was bent on ending the war. “We want to end the war, and we want to grow our relations with India,” he added.