Trump holds off secondary sanctions for China, claims India no longer buying Russian oil
NEW DELHI : India on August 16, welcomed the Summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and appreciated the “progress made” on a path to ending the Ukraine conflict. Although the meeting ended without any concrete announcements, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated that it would lead to a trilateral summit including him soon.
While the cordial nature of the summit could mean some relief for India, which faces 50% U.S. tariffs on its exports to the U.S., including 25% penalty tariffs for the import of Russian oil, Mr. Trump did not make a categorical statement that these would now be reconsidered.
In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the U.S. and Russian Presidents’ “leadership in the pursuit of peace is highly commendable”.
“The way forward can only be through dialogue and diplomacy. The world wants to see an early end to the conflict in Ukraine,” the MEA added. However, the Ministry declined to comment on Mr. Trump’s claims that India had stopped being an “oil client” for Russia. Mr. Trump also repeated earlier comments, which India has denied, on his role in mediating the India-Pakistan ceasefire in May this year.
In an interview to US’s Fox News after the talks, Mr. Trump said that he would consider the question of the penalty tariffs on Russian oil in “two or three weeks”, possibly indicating the August 27 deadline could pass for India without an implementation of punitive 25% tariffs over and above the 25% reciprocal tariffs.
When asked specifically about tariffs on China which imports even more oil than India, Mr. Trump said that “because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now,” adding, “I think you know, the meeting [with Putin] went very well”. Speaking earlier, Mr. Trump claimed that India had already agreed to drop purchases of Russian oil.
Well, he (Putin) lost an oil client, so to speak, which is India, which is doing about 40% of the oil; China, as you know, is doing a lot, and there are a few other countries,” Mr. Trump told Fox News in an interview prior to the talks on Friday (August 15, 2025). “If I did what’s called a secondary sanction or a secondary tariff, it would be devastating from their (Russia’s) standpoint. If I have to do it, I will do it; maybe I won’t have to do it,” he added.
India continues to purchase Russian oil
Indian oil refining PSUs, however, have continued to purchase up to 2 million bpd (barrels per day) of Russian oil, and said that they had no instructions from the government to “buy or not to buy” from Russia, even after the U.S. tariffs were announced.
Ahead of the Trump-Putin talks, which the Ministry had welcomed and “endorsed”, officials were understood to be watching the developments in Alaska for separate indicators — whether the U.S. would lift objections to India’s purchase of Russian oil and whether the U.S. President would roll back his tariffs. A meeting of Indian and U.S. trade negotiators earlier set for August 25 is also due to be confirmed.
Trump insists he brokered India-Pakistan peace
Mr. Trump did not, however, change his position on his involvement in the India-Pakistan conflict after the Pahalgam attack, suggesting that whether he brokers a peace deal in Ukraine or not, he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in a number of conflicts, including Operation Sindoor.
“Take a look at India and Pakistan. They were shooting down aeroplanes already, and that would have been maybe nuclear. I would have said it was going to go nuclear, and I was able to get (a ceasefire) done,” Mr. Trump said.
Both India and Pakistan have claimed to have shot down each other’s fighter jets during the May 7–May 10 conflict. In addition, Indian Air Chief Marshall A.P. Singh said that India had also damaged a number of US-made F-16 planes stationed at Pakistan’s Jacobabad airbase. The government has not clarified about India’s aircraft losses thus far, with a number of officials saying publicly that this was “not the time” to speak about exact losses.
Mr. Trump also said that he dealt with India and Pakistan using trade as a leverage. “I deal with all of the countries for trade… So if there’s a war going on, and if we’re doing trade with one or both of them, I say we’re not going to do a deal unless you make peace,” Mr. Trump said.