India profiteering from Russian crude: US Treasury Secretary renews attack

Bessent said in a television interview that Beijing’s longstanding purchases of Russian oil were in contrast to India’s rapid increase in imports after the war in Ukraine broke out. Bessent was asked why Washington had not placed tariffs on China for purchasing Russian energy, after imposing a 25% penalty, on top of a 25% reciprocal tariff, on India for the same.

“China importing Russian oil is sub-optimal. But if you go back and look, before the 2022 invasion, 13% of China’s oil was already coming from Russia and now it’s 16%. So China has a diversified input of their oil. If you go back and look back, India had less than 1% of their oil (coming from Russia) and now it’s up to, I believe, 42%. So India is just profiteering,” Bessent said .

“They (India) made $16 billion in excess profits. Some of the richest families in India. This is a completely different thing. This is what I would call the Indian arbitrage — buying cheap Russian oil, reselling it as product, has just just sprung up during the war - which is unacceptable,” Bessent added..