US President Donald Trump has said he would increase the tariff charged on imports from India from the current rate of 25 percent "very substantially" over the next 24 hours, in view of New Delhi's continued purchases of Russian oil.
"India has not been a good trading partner, because they do a lot of business with us, but we don't do business with them. So we settled on 25 percent but I think I'm going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they're buying Russian oil," he told CNBC in a televised interview.
He also said a "zero tariff" offer for imports of US goods into India was not good enough, stressing that India was "fuelling the war" in Ukraine.
Trump's threat to India over its purchases of Russian oil started on July 31, when he announced a 25 percent tariff for Indian goods, along with an unspecified penalty.
It comes a day after India accused US and European Union of "unjustified and unreasonable" targeting over its continued imports of Russian oil, rejecting criticism from Western governments.
It also said the US continues to purchase uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for electric vehicles, and various chemicals and fertilisers from Russia.
"Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion," Indian External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Monday that the US encouraged such imports by India at the start of the ongoing Moscow-Kiev war, with the aim of "strengthening global energy market stability."
On Sunday, a senior Trump administration official accused India of financing Russia's war with Ukraine through massive oil purchases.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told Fox News that India rivals China in Russian energy imports, contradicting New Delhi's claims of friendship with Washington.
"People will be shocked to learn that India is basically tied with China in purchasing Russian oil," Miller said.
"What he (US President Donald Trump) said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia."
Miller reiterated Trump's earlier criticism of New Delhi's trade practices and immigration policies, describing them as “harmful” to American workers.
"India portrays itself as being one of our closest friends in the world, but they don't accept our products," he said.
"President Trump wants a tremendous relationship, but we need to get real about dealing with the financing of this war."
