Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to raise the United States’ controversial 25% tariff on Indian goods imposed as punishment for India’s purchases of discounted Russian oil with US President Donald Trump, labelling the levy “wrong” and insisting America holds no authority to dictate such penalties on sovereign nations like India.
This pressing issue dominated a recent late-night conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Putin, where both leaders voiced shared alarm over these trade barriers eroding India-Russia energy cooperation amid tightening US sanctions.
Indian officials, led by Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, have branded the tariffs “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,” pledging countermeasures, while export lobbies warn of severe hits to competitiveness against rivals like China; no immediate US response has emerged, but the diplomatic push signals escalating tensions in global energy geopolitics.
Tariff Tensions Strain Energy Ties
The additional 25% tariff, announced by the Trump administration and effective from 27 August 2025, layers atop an existing 25% reciprocal duty, pushing the combined burden to 50% on the bulk of India’s $86.5 billion annual exports to the US.
This sweeping measure targets sectors from textiles to pharmaceuticals, but its core aim is to penalise India’s strategic pivot to Russian crude, which has kept energy costs manageable for its 1.4 billion citizens amid volatile global prices.
Putin, speaking candidly during his exchange with Modi, decried the policy as an overreach, stating he would confront Trump directly to defend India’s right to diversified energy sources and preserve Moscow-New Delhi partnerships forged over decades.
Federation of Indian Export Organisations president S C Ralhan underscored the tariff’s ripple effects, estimating it grants a 30-35% price advantage to competitors such as China and Vietnam, potentially jeopardising 55% of India’s US-bound shipments.
Indian refiners, who process around 1.5 million barrels daily of Russian oil at discounts of up to $10 per barrel, now face squeezed margins and supply uncertainties following US sanctions on key Russian entities like Rosneft and Lukoil in November 2025.
Commerce Ministry officials have initiated urgent consultations with affected industries, hinting at retaliatory duties or WTO challenges, while urging exporters to explore alternative markets in the Global South.
This escalation humanises the stakes for millions: factory workers in Gujarat’s textile hubs, pharmaceutical technicians in Hyderabad, and households nationwide reliant on stable fuel prices.
Putin’s proactive stance reflects not just bilateral solidarity but a broader rebuke of unilateralism, as he emphasised during the Modi call that “no country should dictate terms to another on legitimate trade”.
For India, the tariffs compound pressures from fluctuating Brent crude rates hovering near $75 per barrel, testing the resilience of its energy import strategy that sources 85% of needs externally.
Geopolitical Roots and Escalating Frictions
The tariffs trace back to the US’s post-Ukraine invasion campaign to isolate Russia economically, with India emerging as a flashpoint due to its pragmatic oil deals that ballooned from negligible levels to over 40% of total imports by mid-2024.
What began as discounted urgency purchases evolved into a cornerstone of India’s energy security, shielding consumers from inflation spikes seen elsewhere.
Yet, Washington’s response has intensified: the August tariffs followed secondary sanctions warnings, and November’s firm actions against Russian oil majors sliced India’s Russian imports by a third, from 1.7 million to 1.1 million barrels per day.
This forms part of a wider 2025 US-India trade rift, catalogued in diplomatic annals as involving BRICS expansions, tech transfer disputes, and now energy coercion.
A White House fact sheet from early August framed the tariffs as “addressing threats to US interests,” implicitly linking them to Russia’s war economy, though critics in New Delhi view it as hypocritical given America’s own energy dependencies.
India’s riposte has been measured: abstaining from full Western sanctions, diversifying suppliers to the Middle East, and now leveraging high-level diplomacy like the Modi-Putin huddle to affirm strategic autonomy.
Preceding incidents amplify the context the Ukraine conflict’s 2022 onset spurred India’s oil shift, yielding $10 billion in savings, but drew G7 ire and initial sanction threats. Post-tariff, Indian shipments to the US dipped 12% in Q4 2025, per early trade data, prompting think tanks like Carnegie to warn of long-term supply chain disruptions.
The leaders’ dialogue, timed ahead of Putin’s prospective India visit, underscores New Delhi’s balancing act: nurturing Quad ties with the US while safeguarding Russian defence and energy pacts worth $65 billion annually. Economists project that without resolution, India’s import bill could swell by $5-7 billion yearly, fuelling domestic debates on self-reliance in renewables.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
Geopolitical tariffs like these expose the fragility of global supply chains, where punitive economics undermines affordable energy for developing nations and sows discord over shared resources essential for human progress. The Logical Indian stands firmly for dialogue-driven resolutions that honour sovereignty, empathy, and coexistence, rejecting coercive measures that prioritise power plays over peaceful trade harmony.
By championing open conversations as Putin plans with Trump and Modi exemplifies world leaders can forge equitable paths forward, ensuring energy security bolsters rather than burdens ordinary lives worldwide.
True advancement blooms from kindness and mutual respect, not barriers that widen divides between North and South. Initiatives promoting transparent energy markets and joint green transitions could transform rivalry into collaboration, aligning with universal values of fairness and sustainability.
