Selective outrage: Trump’s trade war with India over Russia

As he had threatened, the maverick US President Donald Trump has “penalised” India with an additional 25% tariff over its purchases of Russian oil, thereby raising the total tariff on Indian imports to the United States, to come into effect from August 27, to 50%. The sheer hypocrisy of Trump’s decision boggles the mind! For one thing, India is not the only nation importing crude oil from Russia – China, Turkey and many others have been doing the same. That India has been singled out for punitive action, therefore, appears to be motivated. Even more of a double standard this displays lies in that the US accusing India of trade with Russia is a blatant example of the pot calling the kettle black. While charging India for financing the Ukraine war through purchase of Russian crude, Trump has conveniently forgotten that the US itself continues to import substantiality from that country. No doubt US imports from Russia have fallen to $2.50 billion in the first half of 2025 from $14.14 billion four years earlier, but it has not ended. Since January 2022, the United States has imported $24.51 billion of Russian goods! Last year, the US imported around $1.27 billion worth of Russian fertilisers, enriched uranium and plutonium worth around $624 million, and $878 million worth of palladium, among other items.

Adding to the US hypocrisy is the fact that Uncle Sam has overlooked the transgressions of its friends across the Atlantic – the EU still imports billions of euros worth of Russian energy and commodities, ranging from liquefied natural gas to enriched uranium! Russia continues to be the largest supplier of petroleum products to the EU, the latter’s oil imports in the first quarter of 2025 being worth 1.48 billion euros. About 17% of Europe’s gas still comes from Russia, via the TurkStream pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments. Since January 2022, the EU has imported 297 billion euros worth of Russian goods, a signal indication of which entities are really funding Moscow’s depredations in Ukraine, yet not even earning a reprimand from Trump, let alone punitive tariffs. It may be pointed out that India has not condemned actions of other nations, but instead has acknowledged that they were rightly taking their own national interests into account, and asserted India too “will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests.” It is imperative that, given the mercurial nature of Trump’s reflexes, India responds calmly and with patience to the quickly unfolding developments without aggressively criticising the American hypocrisy. There is still a possibility that the fresh tariff impositions might not last long, even as the unfinished trade talks between the US and India might serve to mitigate some of the negative consequences.