Describing the India-U.S. relationship as “very complicated”, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday (August 27, 2025) hoped that “at the end of the day, we will come together.”

“This is a very complicated relationship. President (Donald) Trump or Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi have very good relationships at that level. And it’s not just over the Russian oil,” Mr. Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business.

Stressing that India is the world’s largest democracy and the U.S. is the world’s largest economy, he said, “I think at the end of the day, we will come together.”

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His comments came hours after the additional 25% tariff imposed by Mr. Trump on India for its purchases of Russian oil came into effect, bringing the total amount of levies imposed on New Delhi to 50%.

On Monday, Prime Minister Modi asserted he can’t compromise on the interests of farmers, cattle-rearers, small-scale industries, cautioning “pressure on us may increase, but we will bear it”.

Mr. Bessent said that he had thought the trade deal with India would be among the first ones that Washington would sign, but that has not happened.

“The Indians came in very early after Liberation Day to start negotiating on tariffs, and we still don’t have a deal,” he said, referring to April 2, 2025, when Mr. Trump had announced Washington would impose sweeping tariffs on nations around the world. 

Mr. Bessent added that he had thought that “we would have a deal” with India in May and June. “I thought India could be one of the earlier deals. And they kind of tapped us along in terms of the negotiations. And then there is also the aspect of the Russian crude purchases, which they’ve been profiteering on. So there are many levels going on here.”

He said, “I think at the end of the day, we will come together.”

“I think a lot of it by the Indians has been performative but….I’ve said this all along during the tariff negotiations, the US is the deficit country,” he said.

He said when there is a “schism” in trade relations, the deficit country is at an advantage. “It’s the surplus country that should worry. So the Indians are selling to us, they have very high tariffs, and we have a very large deficit with them.”

When asked if he worries that India is going to set trade in the rupee and will trade with the rupee currency with the BRICS nations instead of the US dollar, Mr. Bessent said, “There are a lot of things I worry about. The rupee becoming a reserve currency isn’t one of them. I think the rupee is near an all-time low versus the U.S. dollar.”

He further said that the U.S. could use a “more fulsome” assist from its European partners, as President Trump is trying to end the war in Ukraine that never would have started if he had been President.

“Our European allies need to step up. I don’t see them threatening the tariffs on the Indians. As a matter of fact, they’re the ones buying the refined products that’s made from the Russian oil.”

Mr. Trump had announced reciprocal tariffs of 25% on India that came into effect on August 7, when tariffs on about 70 other nations also kicked in. On August 7, the U.S. President announced doubling tariffs on Indian goods to 50% for India’s purchases of Russian crude oil, but gave a 21-day window to negotiate an agreement.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday (August 19, 2025) said that U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on India to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“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 while sparing China for the same, saying it has “diversified inputs of their oil.”

The remarks came amid strain in India-U.S. relations after Mr. Trump imposed tariffs totalling 50% on India. This includes 25% for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil that will come into effect from August 27.

Also read: 50% tariffs on Indian exports to the U.S. will reduce demand ‘very substantially’: Moody’s Analytics

While replying to a question on CNBC on the different treatment of China and India for purchasing Russian oil, Mr. Bessent said China’s oil imports from Russia have increased only 3% post the Russia-Ukraine war, while India’s oil imports from Russia have increased 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,” said 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 further said 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 similar comments last week ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting. In an interview with Bloomberg, he said if “things don’t go well” between Trump and Putin at the summit meeting, then secondary sanctions on India for purchasing Russian oil could go up.

India has called the tariffs “unjustified and unreasonable”.

Trump ended India-Pakistan conflict, says White House

The White House claimed that Mr. Trump has ended the military conflict 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 said at a press briefing.

She said that it was seen not only in the progress with Russia and Ukraine but also “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 said.

In an answer to another question, Ms. Leavitt said that Mr. Trump used trade “in a very powerful way as leverage” to bring the India-Pakistan conflict to an end.

Also read: Trump ended conflicts including India-Pakistan, should get Nobel Peace Prize: White House Press Secretary

Since May 10, when Mr. Trump announced 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 claim over 40 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said in Parliament that no leader of any country asked India to stop Operation Sindoor.