In a rare moment captured on camera, US President Donald Trump was caught off guard on Tuesday (local time) after he was asked about India’s strong rebuttal to his criticism of New Delhi’s decision to continue purchasing Russian oil despite his tariff threats.
While taking questions from the media, Trump was asked by news agency ANI on India calling out the US imports of Russian Uranium and chemical fertilizers, as New Delhi responded to the President’s threat to “substantially" increase tariffs for its ties with Moscow in an escalation in India-US trade war.
Responding to the question: “India says that the US imports Russian Uranium, chemical fertilizers, while criticising their energy imports. Your response to that?", Trump denied having any knowledge of the Russian imports to the US.
“I don’t know anything about it. I have to check…But we will get back to you on this," Trump said.
Trump’s awkward moment came after India responded to his criticism on Monday, as New Delhi exposed the double standards adopted by the United States and the European Union on New Delhi buying Russian energy for its domestic needs.
On Monday, Trump had announced on social media that he would “substantially" increase tariffs on India — from 25% imposed earlier — for its continued ties with Russia.
“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits. They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine. Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA," Trump had posted on Truth Social.
Within hours, New Delhi hit back at the US in a statement, describing the latest levies as “unjustified and unreasonable".
The Ministry of External Affairs also highlighted the US-EU duplicity on the issue and underlined that America continues to import Uranium hexafluoride from Russia for its nuclear industry.
“India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," the statement said.
The MEA said that the US and the EU continue to do business with Russia — including buying its energy and other key items — even though they speak out against the Ukraine war.
It also said that the EU traded goods worth €67.5 billion and services worth €17.2 billion with Moscow, noting that it was much more than what India trades with Russia.
Source: News18