Washington, Aug 5 (IANS) US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he is going to further raise tariffs on India in the next 24 hours, after announcing 25 per cent tariffs from August 7.

In an interview with CNBC, Trump said he will raise tariffs on India, revising the earlier settled rate of 25 per cent.

“India has the highest tariffs. We do very little business with India. We settled on 25 per cent, but I think I am going to raise that substantially within the next 24 hours,” the US President was quoted as saying.

He claimed that India is buying Russian oil and fuelling the Russian war machine.

This comes a day after the US President stated that he will “substantially” raise US tariffs on India, accusing it of buying massive amounts of Russian oil and selling it for big profits.

New Delhi has called the threat of additional tariffs “unjustified and unreasonable.”

Russia also responded strongly on Tuesday, labelling such US pressure tactics as “illegitimate”. It backed India and, while criticising Trump over his threats to increase tariffs on New Delhi for buying oil from Moscow, contended that “sovereign nations must have the right to choose their trading partners”.

“Russia notes US threats against India but does not consider such statements to be legitimate. Sovereign countries must have and have the right to choose their own trading partners, partners in trade and economic cooperation, and to choose those trade and economic cooperation regimes that are in the interests of a particular country,” the Russian President’s spokesman Dmitri Peskov was quoted as saying by Russia’s state-owned news agency TASS.

After Trump threatened to impose hefty tariffs on New Delhi, the Indian government on Monday said that the targeting of the country by the US over Russian oil purchase is unjustified and unreasonable.

A statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson said that like any major economy, “India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security”.

According to the government, India has been targeted by the United States and the European Union for importing oil from Russia after the commencement of the Ukraine conflict.

“In fact, India began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict. The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets’ stability,” it emphasised.

–IANS

na/vd