Trump raises tariffs on India over Russian oil trade deals

President Donald Trump said Monday he was “substantially” increasing tariffs on India, accusing the country of essentially fueling the “Russian war machine.”

“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits,” Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. “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. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!” 

Trump announced last week that the U.S. would impose 25% tariffs on imports from India. At the time, the president described India as a “friend” but condemned the country as having the “most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary” trade barriers. Trump also took issue with India purchasing the vast majority of its military equipment from Russia. 

TRUMP CONFIRMS 2 NUCLEAR SUBMARINES ARE ‘IN THE REGION’ TO COUNTER RUSSIA

President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington D.C., on Aug. 1, 2025.  (MEHMET ESER/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The president decried how India and China are the largest buyers of Russian energy “at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE.”

“INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25%, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE, STARTING ON AUGUST FIRST,” Trump warned last Wednesday. 

On Thursday, Trump sharpened his tone toward India and hit back at former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev for warning about war with the United States. 

“I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care,” Trump wrote on social media. “We have done very little business with India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World. Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way, and tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!” 

TRUMP ANNOUNCES 25% TARIFF ON INDIA, SLAMMING ‘OBNOXIOUS’ TRADE BARRIERS, RUSSIA MILITARY AND ENERGY BUYS

President Donald Trump walks towards reporters from Marine One at the Lehigh Valley International Airport on Aug. 3, 2025 in Allentown, Pennsylvania.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Medvedev had complained that Trump had shortened the Russia-Ukraine ceasefire deadline from 50 days to just 10 to 12 days, saying that the “ultimatum” threatened war “not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country.” Trump had cautioned Medvedev to “watch his words,” but the Russian official doubled down and referenced a Soviet-era nuclear doomsday device. 

In response, Trump said two nuclear submarines had been deployed “in the region” to counter Russia – a move the Kremlin has attempted to downplay as routine “combat duty.” 

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Russia later this week ahead of the Friday deadline Trump gave Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the fighting in Ukraine. 

Trump said last week that he had been informed that almost 20,000 Russian soldiers died this month “in the ridiculous War with Ukraine.” 

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meets with the Moscow-installed head of the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, Denis Pushilin, at the Kremlin in Moscow on Aug. 4, 2025.  (MIKHAIL METZEL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

According to the president, Russia has lost 112,500 soldiers since the beginning of the year, while Ukraine lost approximately 8,000 soldiers – a figure that doesn’t include those “missing.”

“That is a lot of unnecessary DEATH!” Trump wrote. “Ukraine has also lost civilians, but in smaller numbers, as Russian rockets crash into Kyiv, and other Ukrainian locales. This is a War that should have never happened — This is Biden’s War, not ‘TRUMP’s.’ I’m just here to see if I can stop it!” 

The Trump administration earlier this year had expressed that deepening U.S. ties with India would be strategically important to countering China. 

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Russia and China, meanwhile, are conducting their annual joint military sea exercises. The three days of drills and other war games are happening near the Russian port city of Vladivostok, across the sea from Japan’s west coast. Last year, the joint exercises between the two countries took place off southern China in the South China Sea.