India on Thursday hinted that it was looking to increase its purchases of crude oil and natural gas from the U.S. as it diversifies its energy supplies following criticism from President Donald Trump over its imports of discounted Russian oil.
"I was not happy that India was buying oil and [Prime Minister Narendra Modi] assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia," President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
"You know, you can't do it immediately. It's a little bit of a process, but the process is going to be over with soon.
"That's a big step. Now we're going to get China to do the same thing," he said, adding that pressuring Beijing would be "relatively easy compared to what we just did over the last week in the Middle East."
India's foreign ministry said it was not aware of talks between Trump and Modi.
"To the best of our knowledge, I am not aware of any conversation between PM Modi and President Trump yesterday," Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs, told reporters at a briefing in New Delhi on Thursday.
But earlier, in a statement, Jaiswal said India's import policies were guided entirely to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer.
"India is a significant importer of oil and gas. It has been our consistent priority to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer in a volatile energy scenario," he said. "Our import policies are guided entirely by this objective.
"Ensuring stable energy prices and secured supplies have been the twin goals of our energy policy. This includes broad-basing our energy sourcing and diversifying as appropriate to meet market conditions.
"Where the U.S. is concerned, we have for many years sought to expand our energy procurement. This has steadily progressed in the last decade. The current Administration has shown interest in deepening energy cooperation with India. Discussions are ongoing."
Trump, during a White House event Wednesday, said the Russia-Ukraine war "should have never started, but it's a war that Russia should have won in the first week, and they're going into the fourth year. And I want to see it stop."
If India doesn't buy oil from Russia, he said, "it makes it [ending the war] easier. They have assured me that within a short period of time, they will not be buying oil from Russia, and they will go back to Russia after the war is over."
He also spoke warmly about his relationship with Modi.
"Modi is a great man. He loves Trump," he said, referring to himself in the third person. "I've watched India for years. It's an incredible country, and every single year you'd have a new leader. My friend has been there now for a long time."
India is the second-biggest purchaser of Russian oil, after China, and Trump imposed higher tariffs on India in August.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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