White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday (August 19, 2025) stated that U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on India to convey an end to the Russia-Ukraine struggle.
“The President has put tremendous public pressure to bring this war to a close. He has taken actions as you seen sanctions on India and other actions as well. He has made himself very clear that he wants to see this war end,” she added.
Earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday (August 19, 2025) accused India of “profiteering” by reselling Russian oil whereas sparing China for a similar, saying it has “diversified inputs of their oil.”
The remarks got here amid pressure in India-U.S. relations after Mr. Trump imposed tariffs totalling 50% on India. This consists of 25% for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil that may come into impact from August 27.
Also learn: 50% tariffs on Indian exports to the U.S. will scale back demand ‘very substantially’: Moody’s Analytics
While replying to a query on CNBC on the totally different therapy of China and India for buying Russian oil, Mr. Bessent stated China’s oil imports from Russia have elevated solely 3% publish the Russia-Ukraine struggle, whereas India’s oil imports from Russia have elevated over 40%.
“China’s importing (Russian oil) is suboptimal. If you go back and look pre- 2022, pre-invasion (of Ukraine by Russia), 13% of China’s oil was already coming from Russia; now it’s 16%, so China has diversified inputs of their oil,” stated Mr. Bessent.
Mr. Bessent added that “less than one per cent” of Indian oil was coming from Russia pre-invasion “and now I believe it’s up to 42%”.
“India is just profiteering; they are reselling… They made 16 billion in excess profits… some of the richest families in India. This is a completely different thing,” added Bessent. He additional stated that this “Indian arbitrage, buying cheap oil and reselling it as a product, has just sprung up during the war… is just unacceptable.”
Mr. Bessent made related feedback final week forward of the Trump-Putin assembly. In an interview with Bloomberg, he stated if “things don’t go well” between Trump and Putin on the summit assembly, then secondary sanctions on India for buying Russian oil may go up.
India has referred to as the tariffs “unjustified and unreasonable”.
Trump ended India-Pakistan battle, says White House
The White House claimed that Mr. Trump has ended the navy battle between India and Pakistan.
“The President is using the might of American strength to demand that respect from our allies, our friends, and our adversaries all around the world,” Ms. Leavitt stated at a press briefing.
She stated that it was seen not solely within the progress with Russia and Ukraine but additionally “in the closing of seven global conflicts around the world”.
“We’ve seen it with the end of the conflict between India and Pakistan, which could have resulted in a nuclear war if we had not had a President who believed in the strength and the leverage that comes with the job of being the President of the United States of America,” Ms. Leavitt stated.
In a solution to one other query, Ms. Leavitt stated that Mr. Trump used commerce “in a very powerful way as leverage” to convey the India-Pakistan battle to an end.
Since May 10, when Mr. Trump introduced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his declare over 40 instances that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.
India has been constantly sustaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the 2 militaries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated in Parliament that no chief of any nation requested India to cease Operation Sindoor.
