U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has claimed that India has “stopped” buying oil from Russia after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on countries purchasing oil from Moscow.

Mr. Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on India, including 25% for its purchases of Russian oil.

Speaking with Fox Business, Mr. Bessent said, “India started buying Russian oil after the (Ukraine) conflict began, but President Trump put a 25% tariff on them, and India has geared down and has stopped buying Russian oil.”

India had described the U.S. action as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable” while maintaining that its energy policy is guided by its own national interest.

A Bill introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham has proposed a 500% tariff on secondary purchase and reselling of Russian oil. The proposal has near-unanimous backing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

While speaking on the Bill, Mr. Bessent said that it is a proposal that Senator Graham has in front of the Senate and “we will see whether that passes. We don’t believe that President Trump needs that authority, that he can do it under IEEPA, but that the Senate wants to give him that authority.”

Mr. Bessent also accused Europe of buying Russian oil and funding Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“And just, just to be clear that we have Europe buying Russian oil, still, still, or four years later, they are financing the war against themselves,” Mr. Bessent added.

India fell to third place among buyers of Russian fossil fuels in December after Reliance Industries and state-owned refiners sharply cut crude oil imports, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, emerged as the biggest buyer of discounted Russian crude after Western countries shunned Moscow following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday (September 15, 2025) the Trump administration would not impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods to halt China’s purchases of Russian oil unless European countries hit China and India with steep duties of their own.

Mr. Bessent told Reuters and Bloomberg in a joint interview that European countries needed to play a stronger role in cutting off Russian oil revenues and bringing its war in Ukraine to an end.

“We expect the Europeans to do their share now, and we are not moving forward without the Europeans,” Mr. Bessent said when asked whether the U.S. would impose Russian oil-related tariffs on Chinese goods after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped an additional 25% duty on Indian imports.

Mr. Bessent said he pointed out in talks with Chinese officials in Madrid on trade and TikTok that the U.S. had imposed tariffs on Indian goods and that Mr. Trump has been urging European countries to impose tariffs of 50% to 100% on China and India to cut off Russian oil revenue.

He said the response from the Chinese side was that oil purchases are a “sovereign matter”.

Mr. Bessent criticised purchases of Russian oil by some European countries, while others buy petroleum products refined in India from Russian crude purchased at discounted rates, saying they were helping finance a conflict in their own backyard.

“I guarantee you that if Europe put on substantial secondary tariffs on the buyers of Russian oil, the war would be over in 60 or 90 days because it would cut off Moscow’s main revenue source,” Mr. Bessent said.

The Treasury chief said the tariffs on Indian goods over Russian oil purchases had brought “substantial progress” in talks with India. New Delhi and Washington will hold another round of talks with the U.S. on Tuesday (September 16, 2025) amid a recent thaw in rhetoric between Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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Mr. Bessent said the U.S. would be willing to work with European countries to consider steeper sanctions on Russian entities, including oil majors such as Rosneft and Lukoil, along with steps to prepare for greater use of Russian sovereign assets that have been frozen since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

This could be achieved by seizing small portions of the $300 billion in frozen assets to start, or placing them in a special purpose vehicle that could serve as collateral for a loan to Ukraine, he said.