US President Donald Trump’s senior trade adviser Peter Navarro has once again launched a blistering attack on India’s energy trade with Russia, terming its crude imports as “blood money” and accusing India of profiteering from the Ukraine conflict.
On Monday, Navarro, who serves as the White House’s Senior Counsellor for Trade and Manufacturing, posted on X that “India didn’t buy Russian oil in large quantities before Russia invaded Ukraine. It’s blood money and people are dying.” He used an expletive to describe the platform itself, calling it “bull****,” for being fact checked.
Navarro has been ranting for weeks against India’s Russian oil purchases and tariffs. In an earlier post, he claimed: “India highest tariffs costs U.S. jobs. India buys Russian oil purely to profit/Revenues feed Russia war machine. Ukrainians/Russians die. U.S. taxpayers shell out more. India can’t handle truth/spins Leftist American fake news.”
When X intervened with community notes, pointing out that India’s purchases were legal, aimed at energy security, and did not violate sanctions, Navarro lashed out at the platform’s billionaire owner Elon Musk. He wrote: “Wow. Elon Musk is letting propaganda into people’s posts. That crap note below is just that. Crap. India buys Russia oil solely to profiteer. It didn’t buy any before Russia invaded Ukraine. Indian govt spin machine moving high tilt. Stop killing Ukrainians. Stop taking American jobs.”
The community notes on X repeatedly rebutted Navarro’s claims, stressing that India’s energy procurement is a sovereign decision and does not breach international law. The notes also underlined what they described as Washington’s “double standards,” highlighting that the US itself continues to import billions worth of commodities from Russia, including uranium and minerals, even while pressuring India.
Navarro escalated his attack further by alleging that “foreign interests masquerade as objective observers and interfere with domestic U.S. economics and politics.” His earlier remark of “Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people,” was also flagged by X's community notes as baseless, divisive and hypocritical meddling in India’s internal affairs.
When this was also fact checked, he posted as a thread: "On earlier post, you can see Indian special interests trying to interfere with domestic dialogue with lies about India buying Russian oil. Should X present this crap as comments from "diverse viewpoints"?
The controversy comes against the backdrop of escalating trade tensions between New Delhi and Washington. Navarro has been directly accusing India of profiting from Russian oil imports and harming both the US and the conflict in Ukraine.
Relations have soured after President Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent, including an additional 25 per cent duty explicitly tied to India’s Russian crude purchases. India described the move as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,” questioning why it had been singled out when no such punitive measures were imposed on China, the largest importer of Russian oil.
Later on Monday, in a fresh outburst, Navarro also said India "must come around" at some point on trade negotiations with the US or else it "won't end well" for Delhi.
Navarro, in an interview with the ‘Real America’s Voice’ show, said the Indian government takes offence to him and described India as the ‘Maharajah’ of tariffs.
"But it's absolutely true. They have the highest tariffs in any major country in the world against the United States. We got to deal with that,” Navarro said.
He added that India never bought oil from Moscow before Russia invaded Ukraine, “except for like little tiny drops of it.
Navarro accused India of “profiteering” with Russian refiners operating on its soil, claiming American taxpayers end up footing extra costs for the conflict. He highlighted what he called “great” trade deals the US has signed with the EU, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Indonesia, noting that these countries work closely with Washington because they recognise they have taken advantage of the US and need access to American markets.
On sanctions targeting China, the largest buyer of Russian oil, Navarro said India must stop importing Russian crude to help promote peace, noting that Europe must also halt its purchases. He added that the US is imposing over 50% tariffs on China while trying to negotiate in a way that protects American interests.
Summing up the diplomacy involved, Navarro called it “the Kabuki and the art of diplomacy” and said Americans should “trust in Trump.”
New Delhi has consistently defended its position, maintaining that its purchase of discounted Russian crude is driven by national interest and energy security, particularly after Western nations imposed sanctions on Moscow and turned away from its supplies following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.