India Pushes Back Against Punitive Tariffs. (Image Credits: X)
The geopolitical chessboard shifted again this week when U.S. Vice President JD Vance hinted that India was a crucial pressure point in the U.S. strategy to bring Russia to the negotiating table over Ukraine. Speaking after President Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, followed by talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Vance made a striking revelation:
“The President has applied aggressive economic leverage; for example, the secondary tariffs on India, to try to make it harder for the Russians to get rich from their oil economy.”
The remark underscores how India, an unlikely target, has found itself pulled into Washington’s sanctions toolkit. Yet, the bigger picture remains hazy: there are still no concrete plans for a trilateral meet between Trump, Putin, and Zelensky to hammer out a final truce.
New Delhi has been left scrambling to justify its economic choices. The U.S. slapped a 25% tariff on Indian exports earlier this year, with another 25% hike looming before the end of August. Washington argues that India’s continued purchase of discounted Russian oil indirectly fuels Moscow’s war chest.
However, Indian officials counter this narrative sharply. They argue that the U.S. itself once encouraged India to tap into cheaper Russian crude to stabilize global energy markets. Now, India says it is being penalized for following the same playbook.
The Modi government has thus sought to highlight its long-standing ties with Russia while also carefully balancing its fractious equation with China.
Amid this economic squeeze, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is preparing for a high-stakes diplomatic push. He is scheduled to travel to China soon for a multilateral summit, with strong indications of a possible one-on-one meeting with President Xi Jinping.
This potential dialogue carries enormous weight. It could recalibrate India’s China strategy, even as Modi tries to safeguard India’s Russian energy pipeline and manage worsening trade tensions with the U.S. For Washington, India’s moves will be closely monitored as Trump continues crafting his next steps to bring Putin into a deal.
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While Trump’s back-to-back meetings with Putin and Zelensky raised speculation of a breakthrough, officials remain cautious. A trilateral summit involving all three leaders has not yet been confirmed. Without India’s compliance on tariffs and oil trade, analysts suggest Trump’s “economic leverage” may not yield the intended outcome.
For now, India is caught in the crossfirem, pushed to choose between its strategic autonomy and the global expectations of aligning with U.S.-led pressure campaigns.
