Will India stop buying Russian oil, as US President Donald Trump had claimed while announcing the India-US trade deal last week? While the official joint statement on “interim framework” released by New Delhi and Washington early Saturday makes no mention of Russia, a separate executive order issued by the White House does so.
There has been no official statement by the Indian side on the matter.
The executive order titled “Modifying duties to address threats to the United States by the government of the russian federation”, released by the White House, specifically mentioned that the US has lifted 25 tariff which it had imposed on Indian goods as a penalty for buying Russian oil amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
This slashed the additional punitive tariff of 25 percent to zero, apart from reducing the reciprocal tariff rate from 25 percent to 18 percent .
Will India stop buying Russian oil?
The US executive order explicitly claimed that “India has committed to stop directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.” But India has not confirmed yet.
The joint statement released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the WHite House, detailing the interim framework, only mentioned the reduction in the US’ reciprocal tariff rate from 25 percent to 18 percent .
The White House’s executive order read: “In Executive Order 14329 of August 6, 2025 (Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of the Russian Federation), I found that the national emergency described in Executive Order 14066 has continued and that the actions and policies of the Government of the Russian Federation continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”
“To deal with that threat, I determined that it was necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25 percent on imports of articles of India, which, at that time, was directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil,” the order stated.
It added, “Specifically, India has committed to stop directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil, has represented that it will purchase United States energy products from the United States, and has recently committed to a framework with the United States to expand defense cooperation over the next 10 years.”
The executive order further stated that the elimination of the additional 25percent tariff will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Washington time on February 7.
“Effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from the warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on February 7, 2026, products of India imported into the United States shall no longer be subject to the additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25 percent imposed pursuant to Executive Order 14329,” it said.