The American hypocrisy knows no bounds. US President Donald Trump has since late July launched a tirade against India, imposing 50 per cent tariffs citing India’s oil and defence trade with Russia. Now, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has not only admitted to having double standards regarding China and India, but also justified Washington’s hypocrisy.
Recently, Trump had alleged that India, being the second-largest buyer of Russian oil, is “fuelling the Russian war machine” against Ukraine. However, despite China being the top Russian oil buyer, purchasing about 2 million barrels per day, the US keeps it exempt from tariffs.
Justifying China’s exemption from Trump tariffs, Marco Rubio said on 17th August, unlike India, the majority of Russian oil that China is purchasing is being refined and then sold in the global marketplace. He further argued that imposing sanctions on Beijing could result in global prices surging dramatically.
“Well, if you look at the oil that’s going to China and being refined, a lot of that is then being sold back into Europe. Europe’s also buying natural gas still. Now, there are countries trying to wean themselves off it, but there’s more Europe can do with regard to their own sanctions,” Rubio said in an interview with Fox Business.
Breaking: America refuses to sanction China for buying Russian oil despite putting a 25% tariff on India for the same
‘If you sanction China for buying Russian oil, global oil prices will rise,’ says Marco Rubio
Then why tariff India when that exact logic applies to India too? pic.twitter.com/gdzA7kZ2m2
— Shashank Mattoo (@MattooShashank) August 17, 2025
Further defending America’s inaction against China for buying Russian crude oil, Rubio said, “If you put secondary sanctions on a country – let’s say you were to go after the oil sales of Russian oil to China – well, China just refines that oil. That oil is then sold into the global marketplace, and anyone who’s buying that oil would be paying more for it or, if it doesn’t exist, would have to find an alternative source for it.”
Rubio also said that European nations which purchase Russian oil from China have expressed ‘unease’ over taking punitive measures against China.
“We have heard, when you talk about the Senate bill that was being proposed – where there was a hundred per cent tariff on China and India – we did hear from a number of European countries – not in press releases, but we heard from them – some concern about what that could mean,” Rubio said.
China buys Russian oil, Europe buys Russian oil sold by China, the US continues trade ties with Russia, but India is fuelling the Russian war machine: The great American hypocrisy
Basically, the US will not impose sanctions or secondary tariffs on China for buying Russian oil because European consumers are not in favour of doing so. The US will not penalise European nations still buying Russian oil and gas directly since Washington does not want to indulge in a tit-for-tat with Europe.
Convenient much! No additional tariffs on China because Europe would be upset. No sanctions against Europe because the US cannot afford to be at loggerheads with the EU. So, China and Europe can buy, sell and consume Russian oil, but somehow India is the sole villain and is ‘fuelling the Russian war machine’.
Who would have thought that even a ‘dead economy’, as Trump calls India’s, can fuel another country’s ‘war machine’?
After Trump, Rubio, now White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has also jumped on the bandwagon to put the sole blame of the Russia-Ukraine war on India, while giving a clean chit to China, Europe and the US itself.
In an opinion piece published in the Financial Times, Navarro alleged that India’s purchases of Russian crude oil were funding Moscow’s war against Russia and that New Delhi needs to stop this. He asserted that India needs to stop cosying up to Russia and China if it wants to be treated as the US’s strategic partner.
Navarro decided to sermonise to India on how it should act to be treated as the US’s strategic partner; however, the White House advisor did not give any advice to Washington on what it should do to make India feel equal in this partnership. For starters, the US should stop cosying up to the state sponsor of anti-India cross-border Jihadi terrorism, Pakistan.
“India acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil, converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs,” the Financial Times article headlined “India’s oil lobby is funding Putin’s war machine — that has to stop”, reads.
The White House trade and manufacturing advisor further laments that, backed by India, Russia continues to hammer Ukraine, and in turn, American and European taxpayers are “forced to spend tens of billions more to help Ukraine’s defence.”
“More than 300,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed, while NATO’s eastern flank grows more exposed and the West foots the bill for India’s oil laundering,” Navarro writes.
Even India sells refined petroleum products to Europe, as much as USD 15 billion
It seems that there is a common sense crisis in Washington. Much like China, even India sells Russian oil to Europe in the form of refined petroleum products. Ever since the Russia-Ukraine war erupted in 2022, India’s petroleum products export to the European Union increased to USD 15 billion during this period. India is not benefiting from a crisis. India is ensuring that even as there is a crisis, global energy supplies are not disrupted, and New Delhi’s domestic needs are also covered.
If Europe and the US are so keen on bringing Russia to its knees, they themselves should do a total boycott of Russian crude oil. But they don’t. In fact, they continue to purchase Russian oil and gas via indirect routes while imposing sanctions after sanctions on Moscow to cripple the Russian economy.
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 government’s 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.
Meanwhile, the European Union had bilateral trade of Euro 67.5 billion in goods with Russia in the year 2024 alone. Furthermore, trade in services between the EU and Russia in 2023 stood at around Euro 17.2 billion. In 2024, EU imports of LNG reached a record 16.5 million tonnes, up from 15.21 million tonnes in 2022 when the conflict started. Europe and Russia not only trade in energy but also fertilisers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel, and machinery and transport equipment.
Refined crude is no longed ‘Russian’, as per EU Council’s own regulations
Deliberate ignorance or common sense crisis, but the Trump administration needs to understand that once refined by Indian refineries, Russian oil is no longer “Russian” as per EU Council regulations. In 2023, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had cited European Union Council Regulation 833/2014 while replying to a media query about the remark made by Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell, who wanted the EU to act against India for selling refined “Russian oil”.
#WATCH | My understanding of council regulations is that Russian crude is substantially transformed in a third country & not treated as Russian anymore. I would urge you to look at Council’s Regulation 833/2014: EAM Dr Jaishankar when asked about EU Foreign Policy chief Josep… pic.twitter.com/5Dh5PH9yfX
— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2023
In response to Trump’s attacks on India for buying Russian oil, the Indian Foreign Affairs Ministry on 4th August, pointed out that India started importing oil from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. At that time, the United States actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening the stability of global energy markets.
Clearly, it seems that the sudden villainisation of India by America is not due to the continued purchases of Russian crude oil but a consequence of Trump’s bruised ego. Donald Trump expected India to behave like the failed state of Pakistan, heap praises on him for his imaginary role in brokering a ceasefire understanding between India and Pakistan in May, and nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
However, India did not indulge in any such absurd sycophancy, not even for the ‘trade deal’ Trump claimed to have used as leverage to convince India to stop attacks on Pakistani terror and military establishments. No Trump flattery, no Nobel Peace Prize nomination and no opening of Indian dairy and agriculture markets for the US, has collectively enraged and perhaps traumatised Trump to such an extent that now Washington is hell bent on blaming India for the Russia-Ukraine war.
OpIndia reported earlier how the European Union capitulated before Trump in the US-EU trade deal and compromised the EU’s interests. Apparently, the EU’s capitulation had emboldened Trump, who thought that his tariff tactics would work against any country; however, India shattered his delusion.
Interestingly, the Trump administration is busy painting India as the financier of Russia’s military action against a NATO-backed Ukraine. However, during his meeting with the US President in Alaska on 16th August, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed that US-Russia bilateral trade had expanded by over 20 per cent in the past few months, exposing Trump’s persistent claims that the US has been pressuring Moscow to end its war in Ukraine.
Perhaps Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Peter Navarro or at least Lindsay Graham can explain how the US is not ‘fuelling Russian war machine’ by expanding bilateral trade with Moscow by 20 per cent. Or, the Russian war machine is fuelled only when New Delhi imports a few barrels of Russian crude for domestic needs and exports to Europe? It’s high time the US either shuns this hypocrisy and punishes itself for funding the Russian war machine or stops vilifying India for not turning its back on affordable Russian oil.
Donald Trump, who during his presidential campaign made tall claims of ending the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours of assuming office, has failed to secure even a temporary ceasefire between the two warring nations even after eight months. India is in no way obliged to burden itself with the blame for Trump’s failures, whims and hypocrisy.