TOI correspondent from Washington: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed he has an assurance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi that New Delhi is tapering down its purchase of Russian oil to help stop the Russia-Ukraine war , even as an Indian trade team arrived in Washington DC, to advance talks on the tariff impasse.
In his customary freewheeling banter with pool reporters in the White House , Trump indicated that India’s pledge was conveyed through the new US ambassador to India, Sergio Gor , who was present in the Oval Office to brief the President about his meeting with PM Modi and the Indian foreign office earlier this week in New Delhi.
“He's assured me, there will be no oil purchase from Russia. I don't know. Maybe that's a breaking story. Can I say that? Would you say there will be no oil?,” Trump said, waving towards Gor, and adding, “He's not buying his oil from Russia.”
The US President conceded that India’s oil purchases may not stop immediately and the tapering would be gradual, but "within a short period of time."
“It started. 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,” he said, adding that he would also try and get China to stop buying Russian oil in an effort to stop the war. Once this oil revenue spigot for Moscow is turned off and the war is over, Trump indicated India could go back to purchasing Russian oil.
The US President’s hypothesis that Moscow would end the war if it did not get oil revenues from India and China – viewed skeptically by many analysts who cite Russia’s long history of fighting long and deep to defeat Hitler and Napoleon, among others – is among the reasons holding up a trade deal between Washington and New Delhi. Both sides are said to be close to an agreement, with India indicating it is open to stepping up US energy purchases even as it draws down on buying Russian oil, although officials privately fume that the US President’s performative public diplomacy tends to queer the pitch.
Among other odd remarks, Trump, calling Modi a “great man” and India “an incredible country,” claimed “he (Modi) loves Trump.”
“Now, I don't know if the word love…I don't want you to take that any different... I don't want to destroy his political career, okay, but you have to understand… I've watched India for years. It's an incredible country, and every single year you'd have a new leader. I mean, some would be in there for a few months, and this was year after year after year. And my friend has been there now for a long time, and he is, and he's assured me, there will be no oil purchase from Russia,” the US President rambled.
India has had three prime ministers in the last 27 years, including Modi for the last 11; the only time India had the kind of turnover Trump alluded to was in 1996-1998, when coalition governments turned out H D Deve Gowda, Inder Gujral and AB Vajpayee for short stints.
The US President’s sketchy grasp of global events, and the history of other countries and their leaders, a subject of much caustic jibes in the US commentariat, got more grist on Wednesday when he mistakenly referred to a potential nuclear war between Pakistan and Iran, when he obviously meant Pakistan and India and his use of tariff threat to stop it.
The freewheeling presser, originally meant to discuss FBI ’s crackdown on crime and law enforcement, including familiar riffs on his stopping eight wars, seven planes lost in the India-Pakistan clash, foreign countries like Venezuela emptying out their prisons and mental asylums and sending their inmates to the U.S
In his customary freewheeling banter with pool reporters in the White House , Trump indicated that India’s pledge was conveyed through the new US ambassador to India, Sergio Gor , who was present in the Oval Office to brief the President about his meeting with PM Modi and the Indian foreign office earlier this week in New Delhi.
“He's assured me, there will be no oil purchase from Russia. I don't know. Maybe that's a breaking story. Can I say that? Would you say there will be no oil?,” Trump said, waving towards Gor, and adding, “He's not buying his oil from Russia.”
The US President conceded that India’s oil purchases may not stop immediately and the tapering would be gradual, but "within a short period of time."
“It started. 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,” he said, adding that he would also try and get China to stop buying Russian oil in an effort to stop the war. Once this oil revenue spigot for Moscow is turned off and the war is over, Trump indicated India could go back to purchasing Russian oil.
The US President’s hypothesis that Moscow would end the war if it did not get oil revenues from India and China – viewed skeptically by many analysts who cite Russia’s long history of fighting long and deep to defeat Hitler and Napoleon, among others – is among the reasons holding up a trade deal between Washington and New Delhi. Both sides are said to be close to an agreement, with India indicating it is open to stepping up US energy purchases even as it draws down on buying Russian oil, although officials privately fume that the US President’s performative public diplomacy tends to queer the pitch.
Among other odd remarks, Trump, calling Modi a “great man” and India “an incredible country,” claimed “he (Modi) loves Trump.”
“Now, I don't know if the word love…I don't want you to take that any different... I don't want to destroy his political career, okay, but you have to understand… I've watched India for years. It's an incredible country, and every single year you'd have a new leader. I mean, some would be in there for a few months, and this was year after year after year. And my friend has been there now for a long time, and he is, and he's assured me, there will be no oil purchase from Russia,” the US President rambled.
India has had three prime ministers in the last 27 years, including Modi for the last 11; the only time India had the kind of turnover Trump alluded to was in 1996-1998, when coalition governments turned out H D Deve Gowda, Inder Gujral and AB Vajpayee for short stints.
The US President’s sketchy grasp of global events, and the history of other countries and their leaders, a subject of much caustic jibes in the US commentariat, got more grist on Wednesday when he mistakenly referred to a potential nuclear war between Pakistan and Iran, when he obviously meant Pakistan and India and his use of tariff threat to stop it.
The freewheeling presser, originally meant to discuss FBI ’s crackdown on crime and law enforcement, including familiar riffs on his stopping eight wars, seven planes lost in the India-Pakistan clash, foreign countries like Venezuela emptying out their prisons and mental asylums and sending their inmates to the U.S
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