5 days ago
Number Theory: Trump's hypocrisy on Russia‑India oil trade, detailed in 3 charts
Five days after he threatened India of additional tariffs over the already announced 25 % for its trade with Russia, Donald Trump accused India of financing the 'Russian War Machine' by importing Russian crude oil. Here are three charts which expose Trump's rank hypocrisy and a selfish interest in threatening India over its Russian energy imports. US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC, on August 5, 2025. (REUTERS)
1. China, not India, is the biggest importer of Russian crude since the Ukraine war
The Russia‑Ukraine war started in February 2022. Russian oil exports to the European Union, thanks to the action, fell sharply from 3.5 million barrels per day in 2021 to 3.1, 0.6 and just 0.4 million barrels per day in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Russia's overall oil exports, however, fell very little over this time, thanks to an increase in imports from China and India. International Energy Agency (IEA) data also shows that Chinese imports of Russian oil have exceeded India's in every year since 2022.
However, Trump has said nothing about Chinese imports of Russian oil so far. His current threats of 30 % on China could very well fall behind India's if he imposes a penalty of more than 5 % on India because of Russian trade.
Trump's grandstanding about India financing the 'Russian War Machine' while ignoring China's greater financing of it is most likely driven by his concerns about American and European 'war machines' rather than the Russian one. On August 3, the Wall Street Journal reported that 'China is limiting the flow of critical minerals to Western defence manufacturers, delaying production and forcing companies to scour the world for stockpiles of the minerals needed to make everything from bullets to jet fighters.'
