What to Know About India’s Oil Trade With Russia

For months, Indian and American trade officials haggled over things like tariffs and import quotas, trying to work out an agreement both sides could live with. President Trump, intent on closing a $44 billion trade deficit with India, threatened to impose tariffs on Indian goods sent to America.

Then, Mr. Trump brought Russia into it.

He berated India for its purchases of Russian energy, posting on social media that the nation was “Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE.”

For that, Mr. Trump issued an executive order on Aug. 6 saying he would impose a 25 percent tariff on imports of Indian goods as punishment for buying Russian oil. That tariff, which took effect on Wednesday, came on top of a 25 percent tariff he had already put in place.

At 50 percent, India now is confronting tariffs as high as any country in the world and far higher than those aimed at its Asian rivals.

Plenty of other people and organizations had also argued that India was abetting Russia in its war on Ukraine by purchasing Russian oil. But Mr. Trump made it part of the U.S.-Indian trade talks.

Mr. Trump’s demand, which India calls outrageous and unwarranted, dropped like a stink bomb into the two countries’ negotiations. Here’s what you need to know about the dispute.