India Calls Trump's Bluff With Russia: Does US Practice What It Preaches? MEA Decodes

While Washington is constantly pressurising New Delhi over its Russian oil imports, American imports from Russia have quietly been on the rise, which the Ministry of External Affairs has called out.

What Did The Ministry of External Affairs Say?

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has on  Monday called out the "targeting of India" over Russian oil imports by the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) "unjustified and unreasonable" in a statement.

"Where the United States is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals," the MEA added.

This statement came in hours after the US President Donald Trump threatened to "substantially" raise tariffs on Indian exports for "buying massive amounts of Russian oil", other than the 25% tariff which was set on "Liberation Day" and will kick off from August 7, 2025.

How Have US Imports From Russia Increased?

American imports from Russia have quietly rising by 23% year-on-year (YoY) to $2.1 billion between January and May this year. The surge was led by sharp increases in imports of palladium (37%), uranium (28%), and fertilisers (21%).

Two years after the Ukraine war began, in 2024, US merchandise imports from Russia have declined to $3 billion in customs value, which is 90% lower than 2021, which was the year before the conflict.

What Is US Importing From Russia?

The US imported good worth nearly $30 billion from Russia in 2021. This amount got reduced to half to $14 billion in 2022, following the Ukraine war which began in February that year.

Additionally, imports also declined to $4.6 billion in 2023, before settling at $3 billion in 2024.

In 2021, crude oil was the main import, which was  valued at more than $17 billion, but since then it has become negligible.

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