US President Donald Trump announced a trade deal Monday to reduce tariffs on India, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to stop buying Russian oil over the war in Ukraine.
Trump said he was cutting levies on Indian goods to 18 percent. He had previously imposed 25 percent “reciprocal” tariffs on many products, plus an additional 25 percent for New Delhi’s purchases of Moscow’s oil.
The deal eases months of tensions over India’s oil purchases — which Washington says fund a conflict it is trying to end — and restores the close ties between Trump and the man he describes as “one of my greatest friends.”
But while Modi thanked Trump for the “wonderful” phone call and the easing of tariffs, he made no reference to Trump’s assertion about halting Russian oil purchases.
“Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his request, effective immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump said that the United States would lower the reciprocal duty imposed on India during his waves of global “Liberation Day” tariffs last year from 25 percent to 18 percent.
A White House official told AFP that an additional 25 percent tariff Trump had slapped on India in August for its purchase of Russian oil would also be dropped.
Trump added that Modi “agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela. This will help END THE WAR in Ukraine.”
The United States is effectively overseeing Venezuelan oil exports since toppling the South American country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, in a military operation in January.
India had further agreed to buy more than $500 billion in US energy, tech, agricultural, coal and other products, Trump said, without giving further details.
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