By AB Wire
White House counsellor for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro has accused India of enabling Russia’s war in Ukraine by acting as a “global clearinghouse” for Russian oil, while continuing to block American exports with high tariffs.
In a sharply worded opinion piece published in the Financial Times on Monday, Navarro called on the U.S. to get tough with New Delhi, warning that India’s policies undermine American workers and bankroll Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
Navarro, known for his strong advocacy of protectionist economic policies, particularly his focus on reducing the U.S. trade deficit, is a key trade advisor to President Donald Trump. He has played a significant role in shaping the administration’s approach to tariffs, trade agreements, and economic nationalism, often emphasizing the idea that economic strength is linked to national security.
“Here’s how the India-Russia oil mathematics works,” Navarro wrote. “American consumers buy Indian goods. India uses those dollars to buy discounted Russian crude. That Russian crude is refined and resold around the world by Indian profiteers in league with silent Russian partners — while Russia pockets hard currency to fund its war machine in Ukraine.”
Navarro argued that India’s energy strategy has had devastating consequences for Ukraine and for Western taxpayers. “As Russia continues to hammer Ukraine, helped by India’s financial support, American (and European) taxpayers are then forced to spend tens of billions more to help Ukraine’s defense,” he said. “Meanwhile, India keeps slamming the door on American exports through high tariffs and trade barriers.”
Before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Russian oil accounted for less than 1 percent of India’s crude imports. Since then, Navarro noted, “daily imports have soared to more than 1.5mn barrels — more than 30 per cent of India’s total.”
READ: Peter Navarro defends steel tariffs as national security imperative (February 11, 2025)
According to him, this surge is less about meeting domestic demand and more about profits for India’s energy giants. “Refining companies have turned India into a massive refining hub for discounted Russian crude,” Navarro wrote. “The refiners buy oil at a steep discount, process it, and then export refined fuels to Europe, Africa, and Asia — all the while shielding India from sanctions scrutiny under the pretence of neutrality.”
India exports over a million barrels per day in refined petroleum products, he said, equivalent to more than half the volume of crude it imports from Russia. “The proceeds flow to India’s politically connected energy titans, and in turn, into Vladimir Putin’s war chest,” Navarro argued.
It is a not-so-subtle reference to Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries and Gautam Adani of the Adani Group. Both business groups are major players in India’s energy and commodities sectors and have been involved in importing discounted Russian oil and other fossil fuels.
Navarro also pointed to trade imbalances, saying the U.S. runs an annual deficit of nearly $50 billion with India. “India imposes some of the highest average tariffs in the world, along with a dense web of non-tariff barriers that punish American workers and businesses,” he wrote. “And here’s the kicker: India is using those US trade dollars to buy Russian oil.”
He welcomed a new executive order from President Donald Trump that would impose a 25 percent national security tariff on Indian goods, in addition to an existing reciprocal tariff of the same level. “This two-pronged policy will hit India where it hurts — its access to US markets — even as it seeks to cut off the financial lifeline it has extended to Russia’s war effort,” Navarro said.
Beyond oil, Navarro raised concerns about India’s military relationship with Moscow. Despite expanding arms purchases from the U.S., France, and Israel, Russia still supplies about 36 percent of India’s total arms imports between 2020 and 2024, according to his analysis.
He criticized New Delhi’s demands that U.S. defense companies transfer sensitive military technology and manufacture in India as a condition for sales. “That blunts any benefit to reducing America’s trade balance while it also risks transferring cutting-edge US military capabilities to an India now cozying up to both Russia and China,” Navarro warned.
Navarro accused the Biden administration of “largely looking the other way at this strategic and geopolitical madness.” By contrast, he cast Trump’s second-term policy as a necessary correction.
“If India wants to be treated as a strategic partner of the US, it needs to start acting like one,” Navarro concluded.