โIndia is fuelling Russian war machineโ, โIndia is profiteering from Russia-Ukraine warโ, โIndia is cozying up to Russiaโ and whatnot. The Trump administration has assiduously been vilifying India for its Russian oil purchases.
Besides domestic utilisation, India has been buying discounted Russian oil, refining it, and reselling to European markets that have sanctioned Russia, and has essentially ensured that the world does not go through an energy supply crisis. While the US earlier backed India for its role in ensuring stability in global energy supply, suddenly, the Trump administration is furious with India.
US glossing over its substantial gains from the Russia-Ukraine war, while shamelessly villainising India
Recently, US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, dubbed Indiaโs Russian oil purchases and resale of the same, as โarbitrageโ. Bessent lamented that India made $16 billion in excess profits.
โWe have planned to up the tariffs on India, these are secondary tariffs for buying the sanctioned Russian oil,โ Bessent declared. Before 2022, he argued, India bought less than 1% of its oil from Russia. โNow, I believe, itโs up to 42%. So, India is just profiteeringโฆ they made $16 billion on excess profits, some of the richest families in India.โ
Bessentโs โIndia buying sanctioned Russian oilโ comment came even though as per European Union Council Regulation 833/2014, refined crude is no longer โRussianโ. In simple terms, India is indeed purchasing Russian oil, but what it is selling to Europe is its own refined petroleum products.
And yet, such is the desperation of the officials in Trump administration to blame India for the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war, that Bessent overlooked the fact that the very intent behind the G7โs $60-per-barrel price cap was to keep Russian oil flowing while cutting Moscowโs windfall revenues.
Similarly, White House Advisor on trade adviser, Peter Navarro, also wrote an opinion piece in the Financial Times recently, trying put the sole blame of the Russia-Ukraine war on India, while giving a clean chit to China, Europe and the US itself.
โIndia acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil, converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs,โ Navarro wrote, and further lamented that backed by India, Russia continues to hammer Ukraine, and in turn, American and European taxpayers are โforced to spend tens of billions more to help Ukraineโs defence.โ
Both Navarro and Bessent audaciously vilified Indian corporates, but skipped mentioning how American oil companies have made record profits since the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in 2022.
From liquified natural gas (LNG) exports, arms sales, and several other war-driven opportunities, the US is apparently the biggest profiteer of Russia-Ukraine war. So much so, that if Trump genuinely wants to โpunishโ those fuelling the supposed Russian war machine, he would want Europe to impose sanctions on the US itself.
Since the Russia-Ukraine war erupted in 2022, Europe has slashed its reliance on Russia gas, which supplied around 40% of its needs. A barrage of sanctions was directed against Russia to cripple its economy assuming that doing so would compel Moscow into ending the conflict on the Westโs terms. While things have not played out that the US and EU planned, the US has filled this LNG supply gap, becoming EUโs top LNG supplier in 2023.
Interestingly, the US sold its cheap LNG to Europe at monumentally higher prices, often four times the US domestic rate citing โwar-induced disruptions, benefiting from Europeโs urgent need for alternatives. It must be recalled that in 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron slammed the US for charging inflated prices. Even a senior EU official had pointed out that US is โthe country that is most profiting from this [Russia-Ukraine] warโ through high-priced LNG sales.
โIn today’s geopolitical context, among countries that support Ukraine there are two categories being created in the gas market: those who are paying dearly and those who are selling at very high prices, “The United States is a producer of cheap gas that they are selling us at a high price … I don’t think that’s friendly,โ Macron said.
In 2022, US oil and gas companies like Chevron and ExxonMobil registered record profits with a massive 125% jump from pre-war 2021. In 2022, the US companies provided 50% of Europeโs liquefied natural gas supplies, in addition, 12 % of its oil. Beset by boycotts, sanctions and the EU price cap, Russian oil and gas sales to Europe shrunk, while the US benefitting from the void, expanded its tentacles and used the same to assert its dominance in NATO as well.
In 2023, the US remained the largest LNG supplier to Europe, accounting for nearly 48% of total LNG imports with France, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK being major importers. In 2024, while Norway accounted for 33% of EUโs gas imports, the US was right behind, having a 16.5% share. In 2024, EU imported over 100 billion cubic meters (bcm) of LNG and theโฏUnited States was the largest supplier of LNG to the EU, accounting for almost 45% of total LNG imports.
Beyond energy, the US also benefitted from Russia-Ukraine war through its defence exports. The US provided over $19 billion in military equipment to Ukraine, leading to rise in stock prices of American defence manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. In fact, German defence contractor Rheinmetall has also benefitted from Russia-Ukraine war with its stock prices having soared 14 times since the war erupted in 2022.
Not to forget, the US shamelessly boasted that its defence supplies to Ukraine are bolstering American economy. Earlier, the US brought a $95 billion supplemental defence bill, with $60.7 billion allocated to Ukraine, promising that 64% of its funds will โrejuvenate the US defence industry.
Now, Donald Trump is selling its weapons to Ukraine through European nations at a 10% premium, essentially to fill Americaโs coffers while people from both Russia and Ukraine continue to lose life. Trump has even put a cost to US involvement in providing security guarantees to Ukraine. Basically, the US army is functioning as a mercenary for Ukraine.ย But the US wants the world to believe that not Washington but New Delhi is profiteering off the Russia-Ukraine war.
The hypocrisy of the Trump administration no knows no bounds. While America being a hypocrite is not surprising, Trumpโs officials have added another feather on the cap by shameless acknowledging the double-standards.
The same US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who accused India of profiteering from Russia-Ukraine war, was seen gloating over USAโs strategy of selling weapons to Europe intended for Ukraine with a 10% markup.
โWe are selling arms to Europeans, who are then selling them on to the Ukrainians, and President Trump is taking 10 per cent mark-up on the arms. So maybe that 10 per cent will cover the cost of the air cover,โ Bessent told Fox News.
US Treasury Secretary who accuses India of "profiteering" from its oil purchase from Russia, is gloating over the fact that the US is selling weapons to Europe intended for Ukraine with a 10% markup.
Selling weapons that kill people and profiteering from it vs India buyingโฆ pic.twitter.com/0ImPlsCgYZ— Yusuf Unjhawala
(@YusufDFI) August 21, 2025
As the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is reported to have offered to purchase $100 billions worth weapons from US, Donald Trump will get a $10 billion cut, besides the taxes sellers will be paying to the US government.
U.S. is profiting from selling LNG and oil to Europe through increased market share, favourable price differentials, and strategic geopolitical gains. The shift away from Russian imports has made the U.S. a critical energy supplier, boosting revenues for American energy companies and supporting domestic industry growth.
While the US may have cut its Russian crude oil imports from Russia due to sanctions, it continues to trade with Russia in various sectors. Even three years after Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States has not fully cut off its trade ties with Moscow. The US has imported more than $24.5 billion worth of Russian goods since January 2022. This year alone, it bought $1.27 billion worth of fertilisers, $624 million in uranium and plutonium, and nearly $878 million in palladium.
Import of non-ferrous metals such as palladium and aluminium was valued at $876.5 million for the period January to November in 2024. Inorganic chemicals made up $683 million, followed by power-generating machinery at $79 million and cork and wood manufacturers at approximately $64 million.
Other commodities included nuclear reactors and machinery worth $80.81 million, prepared animal feed, iron and steel, and oil seeds, although these contributed smaller shares to the overall imports. The US governmentโs own data indicates that U.S. exports of goods to Russia fell to $528.3 million in 2024, while imports were worth an amount phenomenally higher. In the year 2023, the U.S. exports to Russia stood at around $598.8 million. Despite Russia enjoying a massive surplus and being involved in a war with Ukraine, there was never really a hiatus in the Russia-US trade.
In fact, ย during his meeting with the US President in Alaska on 16th August, Russian President Vladimir Putinย revealedย that US-Russia bilateral trade had expanded by over 20 per cent in the past few months, exposing Trumpโs persistent claims that the US has been pressuring Moscow to end its war in Ukraine. Trump, Marco Rubio, Peter Navarro and Scott Bessent, none of them criticise China as harshly as they criticise India even as Beijing is the largest buyer of Russian oil and not India. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently not only admitted to having double standards regarding China and India, but also justified Washingtonโs hypocrisy.
But somehow, India buying Russian oil for essential domestic needs and ensuring that stable global energy prices is bad, and US selling weapons to kill people and earn from profits from it is a peacemaker, messiah, protector-in-chief and whatnot.
Perhaps, the chagrin of India not giving credit to Trump for India-Pakistan ceasefire in May, not nominating him for Nobel Peace prize, which he so desperately seeks, and not opening Indian agricultural and dairy markets for the US, is finding expression in the form of tariffs and anti-India commentary.
It is essential to mention that the US has a penchant for thriving off conflicts and chaos. Chaos, in fact, is a ladder for Washington to climb to the position where US gets to make profits and secure its strategic interests no matter what.
Trump administration thinks that it can arm-twist India into accepting a US-favouring trade deal and genuflecting before Donald Trump just as the failed state of Pakistan did. However, India refuses to succumb to Americaโs bullying, tariffs, sanctions, penalties, and even the hypocritical and outrageous rhetoric.
EU succumbed to US’s pressure tactics, India gets the blame for resisting Trump’s bullying
OpIndia reported earlier how the European Unionย capitulatedย before Trump in the US-EU trade deal and compromised the EUโs interests. Even in this trade deal, US did not skip squeezing maximum profits out of the trading โpartnerโ while giving little in return. Just the way he tried with India, Trump issued tariff threats against the EU, however, unlike India, the European Union chose sabotaging its own interests to be in Trumpโs good books over its self-respect.
The EU signed a trade deal with the US on 27 July 2025, reflecting its capitulation before Trumpโs tariff threats. Down from 27.5 per cent, the European Union agreed to a 15 per cent tariff on most of its exports to the US, while US exports to the EU face zero tariffs.
In addition, the EU committed to approximately $750 billion in U.S. energy purchases and $600 billion in investments, and increased purchases of U.S. military equipment. Trumpโs aggressive negotiation tactics, including threats of levying higher tariffs and leveraging the EUโs reliance on US markets and security, pressured EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to agree to the one-sided terms. This, however, came at the cost of leaving European industries, especially automotive and pharmaceuticals, at a massive disadvantage.
Just as it was seen in the case of India in April this year, Trump had put a deadline for the EU as well, threatening to impose a 30 per cent tariff on European products in the absence of a trade deal by 1st August 2025. Trump had also threatened a massive 200 per cent tariff on European pharma products in the absence of a trade deal by 1st August.
Apparently, the EUโs capitulation had emboldened Trump, who thought that his tariff tactics would work against any country; however, India shattered his delusion. Had India opened its markets for US to make profit from, had India ditched Russia to appease White House, had India given credit for Trumpโs imaginary role in stopping India-Pakistan conflict, had India nominated Trump for Nobel Peace Prize, India would not have been at receiving end to USโs harshness.
US continues to come up with one or another justification for its profiteering from the Russia-Ukraine war, and package its economic opportunism as measures-taken-out-of-necessity, while accusing India of benefitting from the Russia-Ukraine war.
