GUEST COLUMN: Collapse of Indian purchase on Russian oil, US hints to remove 25 percent levy on India-Sazia
Sazia Jindal/ royalpatiala.in News/ January 25,2026
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted that there is a path to remove the 25 percent tariffs which have been imposed on India. “We put 25 percent tariffs on India for buying Russian oil, and the Indian purchases by their refiners of Russian oil have collapsed so that is a success. The tariffs are still on. The 25 percent Russian oil tariffs are still on.”, says Besent in an interview with Politico.
Earlier, India used to buy Russian oil because it was cheaper. To pressure India, the US imposed 25 percent tariff on many Indian goods entering the US. After the Russia and Ukraine war, US imposed sanctions on Russian oil making it really expensive for India to buy due to which Indian purchases collapsed.
“I would imagine that there is a path to take them(tariffs) off.”, says Bessent. It has just considered removal of 25 percent levy but not yet taken any actions to remove it.
Besent further criticised Europe. “Our virtue singling European alliances refused to do it(impose tariffs) because they wanted to sign this big trade deal with India.” He criticised Europe for putting trade deals instead of imposing tariffs. The senior officials i.e Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa of Europe are coming to India for negotiations for an India EU free trade agreement(FTA) and will attend Republic day celebrations as well as India-EU Summit.
Note: The views expressed by the author, writer are personal. Sazia Jindal is a B.A-l student of Multani Mal Modi College,Patiala.
