United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday said that President Donald Trump and his team negotiating the trade agreement with India have been “frustrated” with New Delhi, CNBC reported.

“India came to the table early,” Bessent said in an interview to the news channel. “They’ve been slow rolling things. So I think that the president, the whole trade team has been frustrated with them.”

The treasury secretary said that India had also been a large buyer of sanctioned Russian oil that was then being resold as refined products. “So, you know, they have not been a great global actor,” he added.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that India’s purchase of Russian oil was helping sustain Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine, adding that this was “most certainly a point of irritation” in New Delhi’s relationship with Washington.

“Look, global trade – India is an ally,” Rubio said in an interview to Fox Radio. “It is a strategic partner. Like anything in foreign policy, you’re not going to align 100% of the time on everything.”

Noting that India had “huge energy needs”, the secretary of state said that New Delhi buys from Moscow “because Russian oil is sanctioned and cheap and…in many cases, they’re selling it under the global price because of the sanctions”.

He said that this was “unfortunately” helping sustain the Russian war effort.

Bessent’s and Rubio’s remarks came a day after Trump announced a 25% tariff on goods imported from India from August 1. Washington had added that India will also have to pay a “penalty” for buying a large portion of its military equipment and fuel from Russia amid the war on Ukraine.

However, he did not specify the quantum of the “penalty”.

Later on Wednesday, the US president said that his administration was still negotiating the final tariff rate with India.

“They [India] have one of the highest tariffs in the world now, they’re willing to cut it very substantially,” Trump said during a press briefing. “We are talking to India now, we’ll see what happens…You’ll know by the end of this week.”

On Wednesday evening, India’s commerce ministry said that New Delhi was studying the implications of the US’ decision, and that it would take all steps necessary to secure national interests.

“India and the US have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months,” the ministry said. “We remain committed to that objective.”

The US will be reimposing so-called reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries that have not negotiated separate trade agreements with it by August 1.

Trump had announced high levies in April, before pausing those tariffs at a reduced 10% rate to allow time for negotiations. Despite an extended deadline, Trump has only secured a handful of deals.

Trump had said on June 27 that New Delhi could sign a “very big” trade deal with Washington soon. On July 2, the White House said that the deal was close to being finalised and would be announced soon.

An Indian team led by Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had visited the US in May to negotiate the agreement. Following this, a team of negotiators from the US was in India for a week in June.

Trump sets 10% to 41% tariffs on dozens of countries

On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order formally reimposing the so-called reciprocal tariffs ranging between 10% and 41% on US imports from dozens of countries and foreign locations, including for India.

The tariffs will take effect on August 7.

The rates were also set at 20% for Taiwan, 30% for South Africa, 20% for Bangladesh and 19% for Pakistan, among other countries.

The rate for Syria will be 41%, and 40% for Myanmar and Laos.