India stated it was being “targeted” by the U.S. and the European Union over its imports of Russian oil after U.S. President Donald Trump in an in a single day social media submit threatened New Delhi with a lot steeper tariffs.

India started importing oil from Russia solely after “traditional supplies” had been diverted to Europe following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine battle in 2022, the nation’s overseas ministry stated in a press release late Monday.

The ministry referred to as out the EU and the U.S. saying, “it is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion [for them].”

The EU’s bilateral commerce with Russia stood at 67.5 billion euros ($78.1 billion) in 2024, whereas its companies commerce in 2023 was at 17.2 billion euros, based on European Fee knowledge. Citing these numbers, India stated the bloc’s commerce was “significantly more” than India’s whole commerce with Russia.

Knowledge from the Indian embassy in Moscow confirmed bilateral commerce between New Delhi and Moscow reached a report $68.7 billion for the 12 months ended March 2025, practically 5.8 instances increased than the pre-pandemic commerce of $10.1 billion.

The EU, in the meantime, was Russia’s third-biggest commerce associate in 2024, accounting for 38.4% of the nation’s whole international commerce in items, sliding from being Moscow’s high associate in 2020. EU’s items commerce with Russia dropped practically 74% in 2024 from 257.5 billion euros in 2021.

India’s response comes after Trump threatened on Monday that he can be “substantially raising” the tariffs on India, though he didn’t specify the extent of the upper tariffs. The U.S. president had threatened a 25% obligation on Indian exports, in addition to an unspecified “penalty” final week.

He additionally accused India of shopping for discounted Russian oil and “selling it on the Open Market for big profits.”

Russia turned the main oil provider to India for the reason that battle in Ukraine started, rising imports from slightly below 100,000 barrels per day earlier than the invasion, or a 2.5% of its whole imports, to greater than 1.8 million barrels per day in 2023, or 39%, based on the U.S. Vitality Data Administration’s report earlier this 12 months.

“The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability,” the nation stated in its assertion.

Eric Garcetti, when he was the U.S. ambassador to India, stated final 12 months at a convention that India bought Russian oil as “we wanted somebody to buy Russian oil.”

In response to the Worldwide Vitality Company, 70% of Russian crude was exported to India in 2024. India stated oil imports had been meant to make sure predictable and inexpensive vitality prices to the Indian shopper.

India has up to now defended its oil purchases from Russia, with Hardeep Singh Puri, the nation’s vitality minister, saying in an interview final month with CNBC that New Delhi helped stabilize international vitality costs and was inspired by the U.S. to take action.

“If people or countries had stopped buying at that stage, the price of oil would have gone up to 130 dollars a barrel. That was a situation in which we were advised, including by our friends in the United States, to please buy Russian oil, but within the price cap,” Puri stated.

India additionally took goal on the U.S., saying the nation continues to import uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear trade, palladium for the electric-vehicle trade, in addition to fertilizers and chemical compounds from Russia.

U.S. bilateral commerce with Russia in 2024 stood at $5.2 billion, in contrast with practically $36 billion in 2021, authorities knowledge confirmed. The U.S. has not imposed any “reciprocal tariffs” on Russia.

“In this background, the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” New Delhi stated.

Chatting with CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia,” Rachel Ziemba, adjunct senior fellow on the Middle for a New American Safety, stated that a few of India’s issues had been justified. “It was the last U.S. administration that put in place the price cap system, which facilitated the redirection of trade.”

Ziemba additionally stated India is caught in a “crossfire” of adverse commerce talks.