US President Donald Trump has reiterated his claim that India has agreed to curb its Russian oil purchases, warning that New Delhi could face “massive tariffs” if it refuses to comply.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said, “I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing.” He repeated the assertion despite India’s denial of any such conversation.
Reacting to New Delhi’s dismissal, his claim of a telephonic exchange with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Russian oil imports, Trump said, “But if they want to say that, then they’ll just continue to pay massive tariffs, and they don’t want to do that.”
On Thursday, India rejected claims made by the US President Donald Trump of having a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
When asked whether there was a conversation between PM Modi and the US President, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal responded during a weekly media briefing: “Regarding the comment from the US on energy issue, we have already issued a statement, which you can refer to. As for the telephonic conversation, I can say that there has been no discussion between the Prime Minister and President Trump”.
Early on Friday, President Trump reiterated his claim that India has “de-escalated” on buying Russian oil, as he met his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
“India is not going to be buying Russian oil anymore. And they have already de-escalated, and they have more or less stopped; they are pulling back. They bought about 38 per cent of the oil, and they won’t be doing it anymore,” he added.
The Trump administration imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on India in August for purchasing Russian oil while taking no action against China.
(With IANS inputs)
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: ZEE News
