President Donald Trump stated on Monday that the United States could raise tariffs on India if New Delhi does not cut Russian oil imports.

Speaking to reporters about US police and trade ties with India, Trump said his administration expected greater support from the Indian government in reducing purchases of Russian oil.

Trump added: “They wanted to make me happy, basically… Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi’s a very good man. He’s a good guy. He knew I was not happy. It was important to make me happy. They do trade, and we can raise tariffs on them very quickly.”

Without a trade deal with Washington, Indian goods are facing a combined US tariff rate of 50%. A 25% so-called reciprocal duty was imposed on August 7, followed by an additional 25% punitive levy on August 27.

The punitive tariffs were introduced as part of Trump’s pressure campaign against countries purchasing discounted oil from Russia amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

On November 10, Trump said that Washington will bring down the tariffs imposed on India “at some point” and claimed that New Delhi has substantially reduced its purchase of Russian oil.

“Right now, the tariffs are very high on India because of Russian oil and they have stopped doing the Russian oil,” Trump had said at thetime. “It’s been reduced very substantially…We are going to be bringing the tariffs down. At some point, we are going to be bringing them down.”

Trump had also said that his country was getting close to a “fair deal” with India.

The US president has repeatedly alleged that India’s purchases were helping to fund Russia’s war on Ukraine.

On October 15, Trump told reporters that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to halt India’s Russian oil imports “within a short period of time”, which he described as “a big stop”.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs neither confirmed nor denied Trump’s claim, but maintained that ensuring stable energy prices and secure supplies were the goals of the country’s energy policy.

However, subsequently, ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a press conference that, as per his information, no telephonic conversation had taken place between Modi and Trump that day.

After the punitive levies were announced, New Delhi had said it was “extremely unfortunate” that the US had chosen to impose additional tariffs on India “for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest”.

Recently, trade talks between the two countries have gained fresh momentum.

On December 15, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said that India and the US are “very close” to finalising an initial trade agreement on tariffs, but he did not specify a deadline.

A team of Indian officials led by Agarwal had visited Washington DC in October to hold trade negotiations with the US. In September, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had also led a delegation to New York for trade talks.

When asked about the trade talks, Trump said on November 10: “We are making a deal with India, much different than we had in the past. So right now, they don't love me, but they’ll love us again.”

He added: “We are getting a fair deal, just a fair trade deal. We had pretty unfair trade deals...But we’re getting close.”