U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer speaks with reporters at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Jacob Helberg, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and Special Assistant to the President of the United States.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

India has “committed” to stop buying Russian oil, and already taken “significant steps” towards it, said U.S. President Donald Trump, rescinding the 25% punitive tariffs imposed on India in August 2025. The startling claim, which was not denied by the government on Saturday (February 7, 2026), was made in an executive order issued simultaneously with the India-U.S. joint statement on an interim trade agreement framework, and appeared to be a condition for the removal of the punitive tariffs.

Mr. Trump also said the tariffs would return if India “resumes” oil imports from Russia, and that India would buy U.S. energy, which former Indian diplomats criticised, calling it “plain bullying” by a “hegemonic America”.

In a separate order, Mr. Trump said that any country engaging in trade with Iran will draw penalty tariffs, formalising a threat he had made in January on social media.

“India has committed to stop directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil, has represented that it will purchase United States energy products from the United States, and has recently committed to a framework with the United States to expand [defence] cooperation over the next 10 years,” said Mr. Trump explaining his decision to cancel the 25% tariffs levied on August 6 last year.

Also read: India-U.S. trade deal updates

‘U.S. official will monitor’

“I have determined that India has taken significant steps to address the [Russian issue] and to align sufficiently with the United States on national security, foreign policy, and economic matters,” he added, deputing Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to “monitor” India’s compliance on Russian oil, and threatening to “reimpose” 25% duties if it did.

Mr. Trump’s orders and claims that India has already accepted his terms, put a dampener over the otherwise celebratory mood in government over hammering out a joint statement to work towards a trade agreement, and both the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of External Affairs refrained from commenting directly.

Slamming the U.S. for the conditional order, former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said that Washington was introducing “extraneous geopolitical issues” into the bilateral trade deal.

India-US ‘trade deal’: What does India gain from it?

‘Bullying tactics’

“India’s oil trade with Russia or trade with Iran have nothing to do with a bilateral trade deal with the U.S.,” Mr. Sibal, who was India’s Ambassador to Russia and France, told The Hindu. “Trump is toughening the U.S. position because he did not get satisfaction on [ensuring India stops buying Russian oil]… This is plain bullying,” he added pointing out that the U.S. itself is in talks with Iran.

“The U.S. is a hegemonic power, and has the power to enforce such conditions,” said former Ambassador to the EU and Nepal, Manjeev Puri. “India must always be alert to hegemonic reachouts given its worldview of a multipolar world and its own strategic autonomy,”^{he said, when asked if India’s diplomatic ties with other countries would be impacted as a result of the move.}

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s order threatening tariffs for countries that “purchase, import, or otherwise acquire any goods or services from Iran”, added to the restrictions imposed by the U.S. on India, that already include stopping all India’s oil imports from Iran in 2019-2020, and sanctions from April 2026 if India continues to develop the Chabahar port.

“There is a huge disparity in India-U.S. bilateral trade which is roughly $120 billion as against India-Iran bilateral trade (non-oil) which stands at $3-4 billion,” said former Ambassador to Iran Gaddam Dharmendra explaining the government’s reasoning on reducing engagement with Iran. “On the whole, India’s calculus will be to wait out the outcome of U.S.-Russia and U.S.-Iran negotiations,” he said, referring to both the executive orders issued by Mr. Trump on Saturday.

At a press conference on the trade agreement, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal repeatedly refused to comment on the issue of oil imports, deferring to the Ministry of External Affairs. When asked, the MEA spokesperson referred to his statement earlier in the week, that “diversifying energy sourcing in keeping with objective market conditions and evolving international dynamics” is at the core of the government’s strategy.

As The Hindu reported on Saturday (February 7, 2026) however, India’s crude oil imports from Russia have in fact dropped sharply, to a 38-month low in December 2025, and now make up only a quarter of India’s oil imports compared to a high of 40% in 2024. Imports from the U.S. grew nearly 31% over December 2024.

Published – February 07, 2026 09:38 am IST

There are concerns that India-U.S. poultry deal would allow for chicken legs and liver (not popular in the U.S.) to be dumped in India. Photo: uspoultry.org

As India and the United States decided to end disputes over the import of poultry products and to reduce import tariffs on apples, almonds, chickpeas and lentils, farmers and traders associations have raised an alarm. They fear that the new agreements, signed when U.S. delegations headed by President Joe Biden were here for the G-20 meetings, will harm the interests of farmers and small and medium industries in the poultry sector.

There are concerns that the deal would allow for chicken legs and liver (not popular in the U.S.) to be dumped in our country, and that meat and bone meal poultry feed made of beef and pork would be used for the poultry (a widespread practice in the U.S.).

Talking to The Hindu, Poultry Federation of India’s president Ranpal Dhanda said his organisation will move the Supreme Court against the unilateral decision of the Union Government. “This agreement is against the interest of poultry farmers in the country. Tonnes of chicken legs will now be imported, rather dumped, into our country. We are also keen to know if the U.S. authorities will certify that pork or beef are not used in the poultry feed. Beef and pork consumption is a sensitive issue in the country,” he said.

Mr. Dhanda said the Centre is allowing big American companies to make profits at the cost of small and medium poultry outlets in the country. “They should protect the farmers here, not the American companies,” he added.

United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai had announced that both countries have agreed to resolve their last outstanding dispute at the World Trade Organisation and India has agreed to reduce tariffs on certain U.S. products, including frozen turkey, frozen duck, blueberries and cranberries (fresh or frozen or dried or processed). “These tariff cuts will expand economic opportunities for U.S. agricultural producers in a critical market and help bring more U.S. products to customers in India,” she had said.

K.V. Biju, national coordinator of Rashtriya Kisan Mahasnagh, said India had also agreed to reduce tariffs on chickpeas, lentils, almonds, walnuts, and apples. “The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non Political) had sent a letter to Prime Minister and Commerce Minister requesting them to stop decreasing import duty. We had urged them to increase import duty. But we expected the Narendra Modi-led government will surrender farmers interest at the G-20 summit,” he said.

Mr. Biju added that taking away the restrictions on the import of apples, almonds and pulses will harm the interests of farmers in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. “By going back from earlier stand adopted at the WTO, the Centre is cheating other countries who fought with India on U.S. subsidies,” he said.

Partners in the Opposition INDIA bloc too had questioned the import duty reduction. They had also threatened protests against the decision.