'Settled on 25%, but...': Trump threatens to raise tariff on India in next '24 hours,' repeats 'Russian oil' rant

US President Donald Trump, in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday (August 5), said that he will raise the 25 per cent tariff imposed on India in the next "24 hours". Speaking on the channel's 'Squawk Box' show, the American president said, "India has not been a good trading partner, because they do a lot of business with us, but we don't do business with them. So we settled on 25 per cent, but I think I'm going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they're buying Russian oil. They're fueling the war machine."

This came a day after Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, stating that he would raise the tariff on India. India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, but it is also selling, for much of the Oil purchased, on the Open Market for big profits. They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine. Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA,” he said in his post.

‘Unjustified, unreasonable’

The Indian government strongly rejected US President Donald Trump’s latest warning of tariffs, calling the criticism “unjustified and unreasonable”. In a statement released on Monday (August 4) by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), India defended its decision to import oil from Russia, claiming it was a necessity triggered by supply shifts after the war in Ukraine began.

“India has been targeted by the United States and the European Union for importing oil from Russia after the commencement of the Ukraine conflict,” the MEA said on X (formerly Twitter). “In fact, India began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict. The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability,” MEA added.

Kremlin hits back at Trump

Kremlin on Tuesday (August 5) slammed Trump's threats to raise tariffs on India for buying Russian oil, calling it "illegal". Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, while speaking to reporters, said that it was unacceptable to force countries to stop trading with Russia, according to Reuters and AFP reports.

Peskov further stressed that sovereign nations can choose their trading partners. “Sovereign countries have the right to choose their own trading partners,” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.