No deal with gun to head: Goyal on US’ Russian oil claim

Hours after the US said India was scaling back Russian oil imports at President Donald Trump's request, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal reaffirmed the national position, saying India doesn't sign deals with guns to the head, nor does it decide friends based on considerations other than national interest.

Speaking at the Berlin Global Dialogue, Goyal said trade deals were long-term agreements based on mutual respect and national interest and India was in talks with the EU and the US, but it did not work under deadlines.

Earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed India had begun scaling back Russian oil imports. Her comments came on questions around the fresh set of sanctions Washington had imposed on Russia’s top oil companies — Rosneft and Lukoil.

"If you read the sanctions and look at them, they’re pretty hefty. I saw some international news out of China this morning that they’re scaling back oil purchases from Russia. We know India has done the same at the request of the President," Leavitt said at a press briefing.

She also said Trump had pushed European countries, some US allies, to stop their purchases of Russian oil, adding, "So it’s a full-court press, for sure."

Goyal, currently in Berlin to expand trade ties with Germany, however, reiterated what India has long said.

"We are talking to the US, but we do not do deals in a hurry or with deadlines or a gun on our heads," said Goyal, adding that India looked at trade deals in the long term and never took decisions in a rush or on the pressure of the moment.

"We have accepted if there is a tariff on us, there is a tariff on us. We are looking at how to overcome that, we are looking at newer markets, and we are looking at stronger demand impetus within the Indian economy. We have a very resilient structure of 1.4 billion people, young, with an average age of 28.5 years, very aspirational...They are not in a situation where they want to do suboptimal deals. We would like to really look at the long term," he explained.

Goyal also said India recognises that 25 years from now it will be a $30-trillion economy and so it will negotiate with the future in mind.

"We have to get the best deal for the country," he said.

To a specific query about the US scrutiny of India for buying oil from Russia, Goyal said India does not decide friends based on considerations other than national. He also questioned why India was being singled out.

"I don't think India has ever decided who its friends will be based on any other considerations other than national interests. I think if somebody tells me tomorrow I cannot be friends with the EU, I would not accept that, or if somebody tells me tomorrow I can't work with Kenya, it is not acceptable to me. So I think we are all in it together. The decision whether to buy a particular product from a country is something that the entire world will have to take a call on," Goyal said.

The minister also said India was in active dialogue with the EU but differences around overt regulations remained. Goyal red-flagged the EU's 73 regulations and said, "Because of these regulations, Europe is going to have an existential crisis for their business... They will be living in a cocoon. While other partners will be trading with each other, Europe will be left holding the can that it has 73 regulations."

Goyal's comments came a day after the US authorities announced sweeping sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil in what analysts described as a sharp escalation in Washington’s pressure campaign over Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

The announcement triggered a 5 per cent jump in global oil prices on Thursday.

The White House assertion today marks the latest in a series of statements by the Trump administration suggesting India’s compliance with Washington’s anti-Russia drive.

Trump himself has claimed several times in recent days that PM Narendra Modi agreed to curtail Russian crude purchases at his request. New Delhi, however, has firmly rejected such claims.