Days after New Delhi highlighted growing US imports from Russia—following Washington’s criticism of India’s energy ties with Moscow—President Donald Trump said he “doesn’t know anything” about American imports of Russian uranium, fertilisers, and chemicals. Trump made the comments on Tuesday night in Washington, DC, while responding to a question on India’s statement regarding US imports of these commodities.
“I don’t know anything about it. I’d have to check, but we’ll get back to you on that,” President Trump said, in response to a question (by ANI) about India’s remarks that the U.S. imports Russian uranium, chemicals, and fertilisers while criticising India’s energy imports, at an event.
However, he added that he would soon decide on tariffs to be imposed on nations buying Russian energy. Earlier this week, Trump had threatened to “substantially” raise US tariffs on India, accusing it of buying massive amounts of Russian oil and selling it for big profits.
On Monday, India mounted a sharp response to the US and the European Union for their “unjustified and unreasonable” targeting of New Delhi over its procurement of Russian crude oil. It also pointed out the “double standards” involved, saying both the US and EU continue to maintain trade relations with Russia.
“Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Monday night. The Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilisers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel, and machinery and transport equipment, the MEA said.
“Where the U.S. is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers, as well as chemicals,” it added. “In this background, the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable,” the MEA said.
As reported by The Indian Express, US imports from Russia are quietly rising—growing 23 percent year-on-year to $2.1 billion between January and May this year. The surge was led by a sharp increase in imports of palladium (37%), uranium (28%), and fertilisers (21%).
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On Tuesday, President Trump also said in an interview with CNBC that India has not been a good trading partner and announced he is “going to raise” tariffs on India “very substantially over the next 24 hours” because New Delhi is buying Russian oil and “fuelling the Ukraine war machine.”
Meanwhile, at the same event, he again claimed that he stopped the war between India and Pakistan—a statement he has made over 30 times since May 10. India has consistently maintained that the understanding on the cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.
“I stopped five wars in the last five months,” Trump said. “You just take a look at the ones over the last two or three months—it’s been amazing. This is the one I’m trying to stop. This is the one we’re working hardest on,” he said, referring to the Ukraine conflict.
“The other ones I stopped within a matter of days, almost every one of them, including India and Pakistan. And I could go over the whole list, but you know the list as well as I do,” he added.
