India has turned into ‘oil money laundromat for Kremlin’: Trump aide

Ex-Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro accused India of being an “oil money laundromat for the Kremlin,” citing Russian oil imports and high tariffs, as Democrats criticised Trump for singling out India over China.

Washington: A day after claiming that the Ukraine conflict was “Modi’s war”, former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has accused India of being an “oil money laundromat for the Kremlin”.

Navarro, who served as Senior Counsellor for Trade and Manufacturing in the Trump administration, posted a lengthy thread on X on Thursday targeting India’s oil purchases from Russia and its high tariffs.

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The 50 per cent tariffs imposed on Indian goods by the Trump administration — 25 per cent for unfair trade and 25 per cent for national security — came into effect on Wednesday.

“India’s Big Oil lobby has turned the largest democracy in the world into a massive refining hub and oil money laundromat for the Kremlin,” Navarro alleged.

He claimed that Indian refiners buy cheap Russian oil, process it, and export fuels to Europe, Africa, and Asia. “India now exports over 1 million barrels a day in refined petroleum — more than half the volume of Russian crude it imports. The proceeds flow to India’s politically connected energy titans — and directly into Putin’s war chest,” he said.

Navarro argued that if India wants to be treated as a strategic partner of the US, it “needs to act like one.” He accused New Delhi of keeping out American exports through high tariffs and non-tariff barriers while using US dollars to buy discounted Russian crude.

He further claimed that before the Ukraine invasion, Russian oil accounted for “less than one per cent” of India’s imports, but today exceeds 30 per cent, or 1.5 million barrels a day. “This surge isn’t driven by domestic demand — it’s driven by Indian profiteers and carries an added price of blood and devastation in Ukraine,” Navarro alleged.

“While the US pays to arm Ukraine, India bankrolls Russia even as it imposes some of the world’s highest tariffs on US goods, punishing American exporters,” he added.

According to Navarro, the US runs a USD 50-billion trade deficit with India. “They make a killing and Ukrainians die. It doesn’t stop there. India continues to buy Russian weapons — while demanding that US firms transfer sensitive military tech and build plants in India. That’s strategic freeloading,” he claimed.

While accusing the Biden administration of looking the other way, Navarro insisted that Trump is “confronting” the issue.

India has described the new US tariffs as “unjustified and unreasonable”, adding that it will take all necessary measures to safeguard national interests and economic security.

Navarro’s thread on X was accompanied by images captioned “India-Russia Blood Oil Trade,” “Putin’s war chest,” a photograph of PM Narendra Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and another of Modi in a meditative posture.

His remarks come a day after he alleged that the Ukraine conflict was “Modi’s war,” claiming the “road to peace” runs partly through New Delhi. In an interview to Bloomberg, he said: “Everybody in America loses because of what India is doing. Consumers, businesses, and workers lose due to India’s high tariffs, and taxpayers lose because we fund Modi’s war.”

There was no immediate comment from New Delhi on Navarro’s statements.

Meanwhile, Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee criticised Trump for “singling out” India for buying Russian oil while not sanctioning bigger buyer China, accusing him of sabotaging the US-India relationship.

“Instead of imposing sanctions on China or others purchasing larger amounts of Russian oil, Trump’s singling out India with tariffs, hurting Americans & sabotaging the US-India relationship in the process. It’s almost like it’s not about Ukraine at all,” the Committee said in a post on X.