US President Donald Trump warned on Monday that he was going to increase the US fee on India due to buying oil from Russia. Trump accused India of buying oil from Russia in large quantities and selling it for huge profits. The US President wrote on social media, India is not only purchasing a huge amount of oil from Russia, but is also earning huge profits by selling a large part of that oil at high prices in the open market.

Along with this, Trump said, he (India) does not care about how many people are killing Russia’s war machine in Ukraine. For this reason, I am going to increase the fees paid to America from India. Trump had announced a fine of 25 percent customs duty on Indian imports last week as well as a fine on purchasing oil and gas from Russia. The US President had announced a fine on India to buy military equipment and crude oil from Russia, but no mentioned in the later notification.

Last week, Trump also launched a scathing attack on the relations between India and Russia and said that the two countries can take their dead economies together. India in its response said that it will take all the necessary steps to protect and promote national interests and is investigating the effects of the fee. Trump’s announcements are seen as a strategy to pressurize the US demands in the proposed trade agreement with India. The US is seeking concession from India on its agriculture, dairy and genetically modified (GM) foods.

India is against giving any concession in these areas, they are associated with the livelihood of millions of small and marginalized farmers. India has said that it is studying the impacts of these charges and is still expecting to reach a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial trade agreement. Five round of talks have been held between the two countries so far. The US party is coming to India on 25 August for the next round of talks. The talks will run till 29 August.