India-US trade: Officials react cautiously to Russia penalty threat

NEW DELHI: As President Trump threatened to impose a penalty on India for its trade ties with Russia, Indian officials reacted cautiously as they reiterated India's position that securing energy needs of the Indian people is the overriding priority.

A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said India is buying oil not because it wants to help Moscow but because it's the right thing to do based on the prevailing market conditions and the global geopolitical situation.


Trump said India has always bought "a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia's largest buyer of energy along with China".

However, India had been keen on announcing new plans for defence procurement and co-production arrangements with the US too. During PM Narendra Modi's visit to the US in Feb, Trump pushed India to lower tariffs and buy more defence products from the US that would facilitate a fair trade deal. With the US encouraging India to reduce its dependence on Russian-origin equipment, the leaders had agreed to expand defence sales and co-production to strengthen interoperability and defence industrial cooperation.

In that context, govt sources here said some of Trump's claims don't stand up to scrutiny. "The fact is that India-US defence trade has been increasing since 2008, while the dependence on Russia continues to reduce considerably," said an official on condition of anonymity, adding that the US is now among the top arms suppliers to India along with Russia and France.

While much has been made of India's imports from Russia, little attention has been paid to the fact that its crude imports from the US have seen a significant jump too with the US emerging as the 4th largest supplier to India in April this year, according to Indian officials.

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