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The government subtly rebuffed the president’s comments that it would stop buying Russian oil, as it tries to avoid a public fight and end a trade dispute with Washington.
Oct. 16, 2025Updated 9:26 a.m. ET
The Indian government on Thursday appeared to push back against President Trump’s claim that the country would stop buying Russian oil without explicitly rejecting his comments, as it seeks to resolve a bruising trade dispute with Washington by avoiding a public confrontation.
In a statement, India’s foreign ministry made no mention of any such promise by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but noted that the country had always sought a diverse range of suppliers for its oil imports.
The nonconfrontational response is a sign of how Mr. Modi is seeking to find a delicate resolution with the Trump administration to lift hefty U.S. tariffs, in the hopes of restoring calm to a relationship with Washington that was carefully nurtured over two decades.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said the Indian leader had “assured me today that he will not be buying Russian oil,” which his administration has said was fueling Russia war in Ukraine. In August, the Trump administration imposed a 25 percent tariff on imports of Indian goods as punishment, on top of a 25 percent tariff it had already put in place.
Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesman for the Indian foreign ministry, said in a news conference on Thursday that he had no knowledge of a call between the two leaders in recent days.
But unlike a few months ago, when the government issued a firm pushback after Mr. Trump made a similar claim about Russian oil purchases, Mr. Jaiswal walked a more careful line. Earlier, he had issued a statement that amounted to a denial, without challenging the president directly.
The statement said that India’s oil imports are guided by a “consistent priority to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer in a volatile energy scenario.” It added that the country has been “diversifying as appropriate,” including buying more oil from the United States.
The ties between the country’s two leaders, who had long touted their close bond, has been thorny during the second Trump administration. The relationship worsened after India denied Mr. Trump’s claim that he had brokered a cease-fire between India and Pakistan after a military conflict between the countries this spring.
Any admission that Mr. Modi called off his military operation under pressure from America would be politically risky to the Indian leader’s strongman image at home. But Mr. Trump, who has been focused on his image as a peacemaker deserving of the Nobel Prize, saw the denial as ungrateful. He narrowed in on India’s purchases of Russian oil, which New Delhi has said were encouraged by American officials before Mr. Trump took office to keep market prices in check. The decision to impose the tariffs has all but grounded relations between the countries.
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Indian officials have described the tariffs as unfair since other major importers of Russian oil, like China, have not faced similar penalties.
“If Trump wants India to behave a certain way, going public about it is the worst thing he could do,” said Harsh V. Pant, a visiting professor of international relations at King’s College London. “It makes it difficult for a policymaker in a country like India to be seen to be toeing a particular line under American pressure.”
In recent weeks, the two sides have focused on quiet diplomacy to try and get things back on track. The trade delegations have resumed negotiations and Mr. Modi was among the first global leaders to celebrate Mr. Trump’s role in brokering the hostage exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. The Indian leader called Mr. Trump on Oct. 9 to congratulate him and to review “the good progress achieved in trade negotiations.”
Sergio Gor, a Trump confidante who was recently confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to India, made a four-day trip this month to the country ahead of starting his posting. He held meetings with Mr. Modi and other top officials, even though it is unconventional for an ambassador to do so before he has officially presented his credentials.
S. Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, told a gathering in New Delhi this month that the two sides were working on resolving their outstanding trade issues so they do not “percolate into every dimension of the relationship.”
“There are problems, there are issues, nobody is in denial of it,” Mr. Jaishankar said. “Those issues need to be negotiated and discussed and resolved, which is exactly what we are trying to do.”
Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of Mr. Modi’s economic advisory council, said India had chosen to stand its ground on its interests and not respond to “snide remarks and sometimes what could be deemed as racist remarks against India” by advisers of Mr. Trump.
“We have in general been quite restrained,” he told an economic forum this month.
Indrani Bagchi, a foreign-policy analyst and chief executive of the Ananta Aspen Center, a think-tank, in New Delhi, said Mr. Trump may be trying to exert leverage through his remarks.
“If it’s pressure tactics, I don’t think India is going to fold,” said
Hari Kumar contributed reporting.
Mujib Mashal is the South Asia bureau chief for The Times, helping to lead coverage of India and the diverse region around it, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.
Pragati K.B. is a reporter for The Times based in New Delhi, covering news from across India.
