Overview
- President Donald Trump removed a 25% duty tied to India’s Russian oil buys and directed the Commerce Secretary to track any direct or indirect resumption, with the option to recommend restoring the tariff.
- The order specifies coordination with State and Treasury, signaling continued leverage over India’s energy trade with Russia.
- Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi accused the government of forfeiting strategic autonomy by accepting U.S. monitoring of energy purchases.
- Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said India’s energy choices will follow diversification and national interest, and the government has not announced a halt to Russian oil imports.
- The political row has revived scrutiny of the 2008 India–U.S. nuclear deal, which separated civil and military programmes, placed most civilian reactors under permanent IAEA safeguards, required U.S. compliance reporting under the Hyde Act, and restricted sensitive fuel-cycle technology transfers linked to a testing moratorium.