‘Why Not China?’: US Democrats Defend India, Expose Double Standards in Trump’s Tariff Policy

Amid the India-US conflict over trade penalties, Democrats in the US House Foreign Affairs Committee strongly criticised President Donald Trump’s 50 per cent tariff hike on Indian goods. Lawmakers warned that targeting India not only hurts American consumers but also risks undermining a two-decade-long relationship with India that has been the core of US strategy in Asia.

Democrats also stressed that the tariff move unfairly targets New Delhi while letting China, a far larger buyer of Russian oil, off the radar.

‘Tariffs Hurt Americans’

The Democrats said that punishing India with tariffs has little impact to weaken Russian President Vladimir Putin or end the war in Ukraine. Instead, they pointed out that higher tariffs ultimately hurt American consumers and businesses, while ‘sabotaging the US-India relationship in the process’.

The Committee members also stated that New Delhi has been one of most reliable partners of US in global affairs, from counter-terrorism to supply chain resilience.

‘Why Exempt China?’

Pointing to China, the world’s largest buyer of Russian oil, the Democrats questioned why Beijing has escaped similar penalties from the US administration. 

According to Reuters, quoting Kpler data, China is the world’s top oil importer and the largest buyer of Russian oil, mainly sourcing ESPO crude from the Russian Far East port of Kozmino. Its year-to-date imports of Urals crude stood at 50,000 barrels per day

In contrast, Indian state refiners have backed out Russian crude imports by about 600,000 to 700,000 barrels per day, Energy Aspects’ Jones told Reuters.

“Instead of imposing sanctions on China or others purchasing larger amounts of Russian oil, Trump's singling out India with tariffs, hurting Americans & sabotaging the US-India relationship in the process,” a statement by House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems on X read.

Between January and July, India imported 1.73 million barrels per day of crude from Russia, accounting for more than a third of its total imports. Previously, Russian oil was only a small share of India’s imports due to costly and longer shipping routes.

The top buyers of Russian oil in India are private refiners Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy. Reliance has a term contract with Rosneft, which is India’s largest oil import deal with Russia. Together, Reliance and Nayara account for about 60% of India’s total Russian oil imports. Meanwhile, state-run refiners buy Russian oil from the spot market.