India needs to cut Russian oil imports to secure US tariff relief, says Trump trade representative

India must take additional steps to reduce its purchases of Russian oil if it hopes to address US trade concerns and obtain tariff concessions, President Donald Trump’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer said.

Speaking in an interview with Fox Business, Greer said New Delhi had made progress but had not yet gone far enough.

While acknowledging India’s efforts, Greer underlined the difficulty of a complete shift away from Russian supplies.

"While New Delhi has made a lot of progress on curbing buys of Russian crude, it’s hard for them to completely wean off the supplies because they like the discount that you get from Russian oil," he said in the interview.

Greer added that discussions with Indian officials are ongoing. "I am in frequent contact with my counterpart in India. I have a great working relationship with him, but they still have a ways to go on this point," he said.

Tariff negotiations still some distance away

The remarks suggest that an agreement to ease US duties on Indian goods is not imminent.

Officials from both countries have been negotiating for months over the possibility of reducing a 50% tariff imposed by Trump last year.

The US president had justified the measure by arguing that India’s oil imports from Russia were fuelling Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

India-EU trade pact reshapes global dynamics

As talks with Washington remain unresolved, India has concluded a long-pending free trade agreement with the European Union. The pact, finalised after nearly two decades of negotiations, is widely viewed as a strategic response to the Trump administration’s assertive trade stance.

Greer commented on the development during the same interview, stating, "I think India comes out on top on this. Frankly, they have more market access into Europe. It sounds like they have some additional immigration rights."

"India is going to have a heyday with this. They have low-cost labour. And it looks like the EU is doubling down on globalisation when we’re trying to fix some of the problems with globalisation here in the US," he added.