Will a trade deal between India and the US happen soon? Trump has made a new offer regarding Venezuelan oil.

The US imposed tariffs on India last year for buying oil from Venezuela. Now, the US is once again suggesting that India buy oil from Venezuela, as the United States wants to offer India an alternative to buying oil from Russia.

According to sources who spoke to Reuters, the US has told India that it can help replace Russian oil imports. For this, India could resume oil purchases from Venezuela.

India is reducing oil purchases from Russia

According to sources who spoke to Reuters, after the US threatened to increase tariffs, India promised to cut back on its purchases of Russian crude oil.

The US has recently claimed several times that India is on track to reduce its Russian oil imports by several hundred thousand barrels per day in the coming months.

Reuters was told that India bought approximately 1.2 million barrels per day of oil from Russia in January, and it is estimated that this will decrease to approximately 1 million barrels per day in February and 800,000 barrels per day in March.

This oil import from Russia could even drop to around 500,000-600,000 barrels per day. Doing so would help India secure a trade agreement with the United States.

Will India buy oil from Venezuela?

Due to the reduction in purchases from Russia, the US is approving trade with Venezuela for oil supplies. The reason behind this is that US President Donald Trump believes he has a claim to Venezuelan oil.

The US military arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on the night of January 2-3. Since then, the US has considered itself to have a claim on Venezuelan oil.