The government, in a strongly worded statement, has hit back at the US after Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on goods from India over its purchase of Russian oil. It also countered the stance of the European Union for singling out Indian refiners over their exports of crude.

The government said that while India’s imports are “a necessity compelled by the global market situation”, the nations criticising it are themselves “indulging in trade with Russia”.

It then listed out the trade pacts these nations have with Russia. “The European Union in 2024 had a bilateral trade of Euro 67.5 billion in goods with Russia. In addition, it had trade in services estimated at Euro 17.2 billion in 2023. This is significantly more than India’s total trade with Russia that year or subsequently. European imports of LNG in 2024, in fact, reached a record 16.5mn tonnes, surpassing the last record of 15.21mn tonnes in 2022.”

“Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilizers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel and machinery and transport equipment,” read an official statement.

The government then pointed to the United States’ imports from Russia: “Where the United States is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals.”

It justified its shift to Russia for crude and termed the targeting by the US and European Union “unjustified and unreasonable”. “India began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict. The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability.”