India eyes stronger trade ties with Russia amid US tariff turbulence
NEW DELHI : Despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff offensive against New Delhi, India on Wednesday reiterated its intent to expand and diversify trade with Russia, aiming to achieve the $100 billion annual target by 2030, while underscoring the urgent need to correct the widening trade imbalance.
Russia has expressed readiness to supply Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to India alongside oil exports, while also signalling interest in deepening cooperation in the nuclear energy sector, building on the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu. Both sides noted that over 90 per cent of bilateral trade payments are now settled in national currencies.
New Delhi on Wednesday also finalised the Terms of Reference for the proposed Free Trade Agreement between India and the Eurasia Economic Union – a bloc comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and the Kyrgyz Republic – on Wednesday. India’s annual trade with the Eurasian Economic Union had gone up by 7 per cent to reach $69 billion in 2024.
External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar met Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov in Moscow. They jointly co-chaired the 26th session of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC). Jaishankar will have a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday.
“Our bilateral trade in goods has increased, as you have noted, more than five-fold from $13 billion in 2021 to $68 billion in 2024-25, and it continues to grow,” Jaishankar told Manturov. “However, a major trade imbalance has accompanied the growth; it has increased from $6.6 billion to $58.9 billion, which is about nine times. So, we need to address that urgently,” he added.
The meeting between Jaishankar and Manturov took place just about a fortnight after Trump imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff, in addition to 25 per cent imposed a few days earlier, on all exports from India to the US. The move was in response to India’s continued purchase of oil from Russia, defying the sanctions imposed by the US and the rest of the West on Russia to make it stop its war in Ukraine, which had been launched in February 2022.
During the meeting with Jaishankar, Manturov noted that Russia continued to ship fuel, including crude oil and oil products, thermal and coking coal, to India and saw potential for the export of LNG too.
Jaishankar’s meeting with Lavrov on Thursday will set the stage for Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s annual summit with President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi later this year.
“If the West criticises you, it means you are doing everything right. We don’t expect India to stop buying oil from us — we are aware of the challenging circumstances it faces. This is the mark of a true strategic partnership: whatever the challenges, we remain committed to resolving issues,” said Roman Babushkin, Russia’s Acting Envoy to India, in New Delhi.