India reducing reliance on Russian oil, diversifies energy sources: USTR Jamieson Greer
United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer said that India has already started winding down its purchases of Russian oil, while stepping up its energy imports from America and other sources. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a discussion recently, during which both nations agreed on a framework for an Interim Trade Agreement on reciprocal trade and reaffirmed their commitment to broader US-India Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) negotiations.
Trump also agreed to remove the punitive 25 per cent tariff on imports from India in recognition of India’s commitment to stop purchasing Russian oil. Greer stated that the U.S. has discussed India's oil purchases from Venezuela and added that prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Indians did not really procure Russian oil.
It's really an artefact of the Russia-Ukraine war and the discounted oil they could get. Moreover, he said that India was refining oil from Russia and selling it to European countries. He added ‘I mean, Europe and India essentially were underwriting Russia's war in Ukraine’.
