'America itself is doing business with Russia', the Foreign Ministry gave a befitting reply to Trump's threat.

President Donald Trump, who has been constantly making statements against the interests of the US, has crossed all diplomatic limits. Seeing the adamant attitude of the Indian government regarding the trade agreement, President Trump has now threatened that he will further increase the duty rates on Indian imports.

However, as per his old attitude, he has neither told how much this increase in duty rates will be nor whether it will be different from the earlier decision of President Trump to impose a penalty on India.

But this time, India has not given a measured response to Trump's old statements but has directly rejected them and termed them unjust and unreasonable. India has also shown the mirror to America and European countries on how they are still doing business with Russia for their needs.

Why is India buying oil from Russia?

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal has said that America and European countries have been targeting India since the beginning of the Ukraine war. India started buying oil from Russia only when crude oil started being sent to Europe from the world's traditional oil markets after the Ukraine war.

India buys oil from Russia so that it can provide fuel to its people at affordable rates. But the fact is that the countries that are accusing India are themselves doing business with Russia. Whereas, doing so is not a matter of national interest for them.

He further said that the European Union had a bilateral trade of 67.5 billion euros with Russia in the year 2024. This has been more than India's total trade with Russia. Fertilizers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel, etc., are still being traded between Europe and Russia. As far as America is concerned, it is still buying uranium from Russia. It is buying palladium from Russia for its electric vehicle industry. In such a background, targeting India is unjust and unfair. Like other countries, India will also take steps according to its national interests and economic security.

What did Trump say about the purchase of oil?

India's response came after President Trump wrote a message on the social media site Truth Social. In this, Trump has written in his usual style that India is not only buying oil in large quantities from Russia, but is also making huge profits by selling most of this purchased oil in the open market. They do not care how many people are being killed in Ukraine by Russian weapons. Because of this, I am going to increase the duty on India heavily.

Trump is continuously making objectionable statements against India.

Trump has been continuously making such objectionable statements about India through Truth Social for the last 8-9 days. At the beginning of last week, when Trump accused India of buying oil from Russia, the Ministry of External Affairs gave a very measured response to this. On the day the US administration imposed a 25 percent duty on Indian imports, Trump had specifically posted a post against India. In that he had written that I am not worried if India and Russia sink with their dead economy.

The way India has responded on Monday, it is clear that now it is not going to follow diplomatic considerations. This statement by Trump is also vague, like his previous statements. Earlier, he had said that along with the duty (25 percent) on India, a separate penalty will be imposed. But to date, it is not clear what the penalty rate is.

Similarly, there is also ambiguity in the announcement he made to him on Monday. But this statement is also being made to put pressure on India for a trade agreement. GTRI, a leading economic think tank of India, said on Trump's statement that it is completely wrong. First of all, India does not export crude oil. India exports refined petroleum products.

Many countries buy diesel, ATF, etc., made from crude oil imported from outside. Secondly, the biggest buyer of oil produced by Russia is China, not India. But Trump does not want to condemn China.