Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump said Saturday that India will move forward with buying oil from Venezuela, a step aimed at replacing a portion of the Russian crude that the country currently imports.
Speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling from Washington to Florida, the president said the arrangement is already taking shape.
“We’ve already made that deal, the concept of the deal,” President Trump said.
His remarks follow a report that the United States recently informed Indian officials they could soon resume purchases of Venezuelan oil to help offset imports from Russia, according to people familiar with the discussions.
India is the world’s third-largest oil importer and had been a major buyer of Venezuelan crude before suspending those purchases last year. The halt came after President Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff in March on countries that buy Venezuelan oil.
President Trump said India would buy Venezuelan oil instead of crude from Iran, though India has not loaded Iranian oil since 2019 due to U.S. sanctions tied to Tehran’s nuclear program.
After losing access to Iranian supplies, Indian refiners initially turned to U.S. oil, then later increased purchases of discounted Russian crude following Western sanctions on Moscow over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. That shift made India the largest buyer of Russian seaborne oil.
To counter that trend, Trump last August doubled tariffs on imports from India to 50 percent, warning that the rate could rise again if New Delhi did not significantly reduce its Russian oil intake.
More recently, Scott Bessent indicated that the additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods could be lifted, citing a sharp drop in India’s purchases of Russian oil, Reuters reported.
The U.S. government also moved this week to lift certain sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector, a step designed to make it easier for American companies to sell and trade Venezuelan crude.
Trump said the changing energy dynamics reflect improving relations between Washington and New Delhi after a year of strained ties. Before President Trump issued tariff threats in August, China and India together accounted for roughly 8 percent of Russia’s oil exports, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
