Damocles Trumpist’s sword fell on New Delhi. The US president signed a decree on Wednesday, August 6, adding 25% of customs duties to Indian products, “in response to the continuous purchase of Russian oil.” For several days, Donald Trump has been floating the threat, criticizing the position of India “who does not care about the number of people killed in Ukraine” but only their “great profits.”
Secondly, in the largest Russian oil buyers, India saves billions of dollars in this crude raw price that offers Moscow an essential source of income in its military offensive against Ukraine. When the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out in 2022, India took the opportunity to buy cheap oil and Russia imports increased. A strategy that earned him the anger of Donald Trump, while the latter stands out from Vladimir Putin.
This new surcharge is added to 25% that will enter into force on Thursday, at the same time as the customs tasks that Donald Trump presents as “reciprocal”, and will only be effective in 21 days, according to the decree. It will not apply to a certain number of products, which significantly reduces its scope.
Despite US warnings, India has stubbornly. On Monday, the Indian Foreign Ministry said that US pressures to end their Petroleum Purchases Russian were “unjustified” and “unreasonable”, and that it would protect their interests.
How many oils does India import?
India, one of the largest crude oil importers in the world, depends on foreign suppliers for more than 85% of their oil needs. New Delhi traditionally depended on the countries in the Middle East. But since 2022, India has greatly resorted to Russian crude at reduced prices after western sanctions established in Moscow exports.
In 2024, Russia represented almost 36% of the total broken oil imports of India, even a peak of more than 40% during that year, against about 2% before the war, according to the data published by the country’s ministry of commerce. Nueva Delhi bought around 1.8 million barrels of Russian crude oil per day in 2024, representing about 37% of total oil exports in Moscow, the greatest participation after China.
Why does India depend on Russia?
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India said that “Russia began to import on Monday, since traditional supplies deviated to Europe after the conflict.”
Western sanctions have resulted in Russian crude brut. This allowed Indian refiners to save billions of dollars in import costs, now the prices of interior fuel prices. Although the tariff advantage increased by about 14% during the year 2023-24 to around 7% in 2024-25, the Russian crude is still economically attractive to India. Nueva Delhi insists that their purchases contributed to the stability of world prices in crude oil, saying that without these imports, world prices could have risen up to $ 120-130 per barrel.
Does India have another solution?
India is still obtaining crude oil in the Middle East, mainly in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. This oil represented 45% of total imports in 2024, against about 60% before 2022 “. India could in principle relatively easily other suppliers that Russia to meet their energy needs, with a limited economic impact,” said Shilan Shah of Capital Economics in a note. Logistically, changing the supplier is also possible.
“Indian refineries can also change quality with relative ease,” adds Shilan Shah. But none of the other supply possibilities offers the same price advantage.
Source: BFM TV
