India and the United States

For twenty-five years American governments of both parties courted India as the democratic counterweight to China, sold it arms, and overlooked its old friendship with Moscow. India in turn moved closer to Washington than at any time since independence while refusing to call itself an ally. In 2025 the present American government put tariffs of fifty percent on Indian goods, half of it as a penalty for buying Russian oil. A deal in February 2026 brought the rate down to eighteen percent, on Washington's understanding that the oil purchases would stop. They have not stopped, a final agreement has not been signed, and a bill moving through Congress would let the president raise tariffs on India to a hundred percent.

Where it stands · September 2026

A Russia sanctions bill advanced in the House of Representatives in mid-September that allows tariffs of a hundred percent on countries buying Russian oil, India and China among them. Russia's ambassador says it will supply as much oil as India needs. India's government says it will seal the trade agreement when it has a tariff advantage over its competitors. As this year's chair of the BRICS, India hosted a summit whose declaration voiced concern about unilateral tariffs. New American restrictions on skilled worker visas, most of which go to Indians, are a second grievance. Japan, India and Australia are reported to be making plans in case the United States loses interest in the Quad.

What the dispute is about

Russian oil. Before 2022 India bought almost no Russian crude. Since then Russia has been its largest supplier, at a discount. Washington says the money pays for the war in Ukraine. India says it buys where oil is cheapest, as the American government itself encouraged it to do in 2022 to keep world prices down.

Market access. India protects its farmers and small producers with some of the highest tariffs of any large economy. The United States wants its grain, dairy and ethanol admitted. No Indian government can be seen to give way on farming.

Autonomy. India belongs to the Quad with America, Japan and Australia, and to the BRICS and the Shanghai group with Russia and China. It calls this multi-alignment. Washington has begun to ask which side it is on.

How each side explains it

Washington's account

India has enjoyed open access to the American market while keeping its own closed, and runs a large surplus. It has become the laundry for Russian crude, refining it and selling the products on, while America pays for Ukraine's defence. It helps Chinese goods reach America under Indian labels. A partner behaves differently. Tariffs got Delhi to the table within months, and the president's personal regard for the prime minister remains. The deal on offer is generous; India should sign it and stop the oil.

New Delhi's account

India is a sovereign country of 1.4 billion people that will buy its energy according to its own interests, and it notes that China buys more Russian oil and Europe still buys Russian gas without the same penalty. It has cut no corners in a partnership it values: it buys American arms, aircraft and gas, and works with America in the Indo-Pacific. It will not open agriculture at the cost of hundreds of millions of small farmers, and it does not negotiate with a gun to its head. It will diversify, and has signed with Britain, the European Union and New Zealand.

In our coverage

Sanctions/pressure are conditional; the Global South asserts buyer autonomy →475 headlines
Covered by:Hindustan Times · NDTV · Indian Express · Times of India · The Hindu · WION

What each account leaves out

Washington's leaves out that in 2022 its own officials asked India to keep buying Russian oil under a price cap; that China, the larger buyer, has been treated more gently because it can retaliate; that the penalties and visa rules have cost it goodwill built over two decades in the one large Asian country whose public liked America; and that a tariff threatened at five hundred percent, then a hundred, then waived, teaches a partner to wait.

New Delhi's leaves out that its refiners did resell products made from Russian crude to Europe at a large profit; that its tariffs were a grievance of every American government before this one; that a former Indian intelligence officer has been charged in New York with plotting to kill an American citizen; and that its autonomy depends on Russian arms and spare parts it cannot yet replace.

The opposition's leaves out that its own governments kept the same farm protections and the same friendship with Moscow, and that it has not said which of the American demands it would have accepted.

The ledger

The United States

Wanted: India's market open and its Russian oil purchases ended.
Gained: an interim deal and some American energy sales.
Paid: the oil still flows, and India has signed trade agreements with nearly everyone else.

India

Wanted: American technology, investment and support against China, with no strings on its other friendships.
Gained: lower tariffs than last year, and new trade partners.
Paid: an export sector living with uncertainty, and the discovery that the partnership had a price.