Indian Foreign Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has issued a sharp rebuttal to Washington’s accusations that New Delhi is exploiting Russian crude imports to profit at the expense of global stability, insisting that India’s oil trade is both legitimate and essential for maintaining market balance. His remarks come amid escalating tensions in US-India trade relations, with fresh tariffs imposed by Washington and ongoing disputes over New Delhi’s ties with Moscow.

The dispute has been brewing for months, but intensified after senior US officials, including former trade adviser Peter Navarro and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, criticized India’s decision to continue importing discounted Russian crude oil despite Western sanctions and mounting geopolitical pressure over the Ukraine conflict.

Navarro was particularly scathing in his recent comments, accusing India of running “a refining profit-sharing scheme” that acts as “a laundromat for the Kremlin.” His remarks were a pointed reference to India’s practice of importing Russian crude, refining it into petroleum products, and then exporting some of those products to markets in Europe and the United States.

Bessent echoed these allegations earlier this month, claiming India was “profiteering” off global instability by purchasing Russian oil at a discount and reselling refined products.

To further raise the stakes, President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff hike on imports from India, explicitly linking it to New Delhi’s continued oil purchases from Russia. The additional tariff, set to take effect on August 27, comes on top of another 25% duty imposed earlier in the year after trade talks between the........

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