US Trade Adviser Justifies Trump Tariff Offensive, Calls India’s Russian Oil Purchases ‘National Security Issue’

The United States has imposed an additional duty of 25% on Indian imports and this is a "national security issue" associated with New Delhi's "abject refusal to stop buying Russian oil". White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said.

The US President Donald Trump had announced 25% reciprocal tariffs on India last week, which came into effect from August 7, 2025.

Trump had also signed an executive order on Wednesday, August 7, 2025, slapping an additional 25% levy on India for New Delhi's purchase of Russian oil, which brought the total amount of duties to 50%, among the highest imposed by the US on any country in the world.

What Did Peter Navarro Say?

While speaking to reporters at the White House Peter Navarro said that it is important to understand that the "rationale for the India tariffs is very different from the reciprocal tariffs".

He added that "this was a pure national security issue associated with India's abject refusal to stop buying Russian oil."

He further added that every American needs to understand the math of this because it is related to the trade situation.

"You start with the fact that India is the ‘maharaja’ of tariffs, it’s the highest tariffs in the world charging on American products and it’s got a high non-tariff barrier so we can’t get our products in," he said.

The US sends a lot of dollars overseas to India to buy their products in an "unfair trade environment", he said.

According to him, "India then uses American dollars to buy Russian oil. Russia then uses those American dollars that come from India to finance its armaments to kill Ukrainians, and American taxpayers are then called upon to pay for the weapons that have to defend Ukraine against Russian armaments paid for by American dollars that came from India."

Navarro believes that this needs to stop, further adding that the US President Donald Trump understands the connection between economic security and national security.

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