India US Trade Deal: Indian government data has revealed that the imports of Russian crude fell significantly by approximately 17 percent to $33.1 billion in April-December 2025 from $40 billion in April-December 2024. The data also disclosed that the country noticed an annualized jump of 65.6 percent in petroleum crude imports from the Donald Trump government.
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USA had levied almost 50 percent tariffs on India for its continued approach to buy Russian crude oil. The Trump administration urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop buying from Russia and instead buy crude oil from it or Venezuela. Recently, the India US trade deal framework was finalized and the United States has decided to reduce tariffs on India to 18 percent on hopes that India would not buy crude oil from Russia.
The Reaction Of India
India has not confirmed that it would not buy Russian crude oil going forward. Interestingly, it has always repeated that the country would buy crude oil from any nation that offers it on competitive prices.
Out of the top five suppliers of petroleum crude for India – Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Russia, the United States and Saudi Arabia, annualized contractions were noticed only in the context of Russian imports. Russian imports dipped to $2.71 billion by 15.15 percent in the month of December 2025 in comparison to $3.2 billion in the month of December 2024.
Many believe that the fall in crude imports from Russia was primarily because USA imposed a punitive tariff of 25 percent on Indian products with an aim to deter the Asian superpower from buying sanctioned petroleum from Russia.
Previously, India purchased crude oil from Russia in large quantities after the Vladimir Putin government in Russia announced heavy discounts.
