India close partner of US, but Trump imposed additional tariff for purchasing Russian oil: Rubio
New York | India is a very close partner of the US, but President Donald Trump has imposed additional tariffs on New Delhi for its purchases of Russian oil as part of actions taken against President Vladimir Putin for the Ukraine war, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.
He made the remarks in an interview with Good Morning America while responding to a question that Trump has "repeatedly threatened" to take action against Putin but backed off those threats, and how much more time is Trump going to give the Russian leader, who has intensified his attacks on Ukraine.
"Well, I think he has taken action. So, for example, we've imposed additional tariffs on India -- and they're a very close partner of ours -- and we had meetings with them again yesterday, and it has to do with their purchase of Russian oil," Rubio said.
When it was pointed out that Trump has not taken any direct action on Russia, Rubio referred to the bill by US Senator Lindsey Graham, which "was about tariffs on India and China for the purchase of oil and gas from Russia".
"I think the President has also called on Europe to step up to the plate. There are countries in Europe that are still buying massive amounts of natural gas and oil from Russia, in essence, directly fueling the war effort. The President has also instructed us, and we've made a lot of progress working on security guarantees," the Secretary of State said.
He added that shortly after the Alaska summit between Trump and Putin, European leaders had come to Washington.
"We agreed to work on security guarantees for the future of Ukraine after the end of this conflict. We've made a tremendous amount of progress in creating the outlines for that, and that's going to be essential in any negotiated end to the war," Rubio said.
Rubio had met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar here on Monday morning on the sidelines of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly high-level week.
In a post on X, Jaishankar had said it was "good to meet" Rubio in New York.
"Our conversation covered a range of bilateral and international issues of current concern. Agreed on the importance of sustained engagement to progress on priority areas. We will remain in touch," Jaishankar had said.
After the meeting, the US said that India is a relationship of critical importance to the United States and voiced "appreciation" for the Indian government's continued engagement on bilateral issues, including trade, defence and energy.
Rubio, reiterating that "India is a relationship of critical importance to the United States, expressed his appreciation for the Indian government's continued engagement on a number of issues, including trade, defence, energy, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals, and other items related to the bilateral relationship,” a readout of the meeting provided by the State Department had said.
Rubio and Jaishankar agreed that the United States and India will continue working together to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region, including through the Quad, the statement added.
The meeting, which lasted for about an hour, was the first in-person meeting between Rubio and Jaishankar amid tensions between the two countries over the last few months on trade, tariffs and Delhi's purchases of Russian energy.
The Trump administration imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on Delhi as a penalty for its purchases of Russian oil, taking the total levies imposed on India by the US to 50 per cent, among the highest in the world.
Just days before the meeting, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation imposing a staggering USD 100,000 fee on new H1B visas. The announcement caused widespread concern and panic among Indian professionals, including those from the IT and medical fields, who are the largest beneficiaries of the H1B skilled-worker program.
Rubio and Jaishankar had last held bilateral discussions in July in Washington DC on the sidelines of the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
In a separate interview with Fox and Friends, Rubio said Trump has put more time and energy into peace proposals and peace initiatives than anybody else in the world, and he has had the most success of anybody else in the world.
"He doesn't get a lot of credit, but let's not forget the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda had a war going on; it's the President that brokered that. Azerbaijan and Armenia, it's the President who brought that about.
"Thailand and Cambodia -- it's the President that brought the end to that about. India and Pakistan. That's just four right off the top of my head in the last few months. And the President is the one who did that, not any other leader in the world and not the UN," Rubio said.
From the podium of the United Nations General Assembly, Trump declared again that he stopped the conflict between India and Pakistan, as he lashed out at the world organisation for its failure to "even try to help" in ending the conflict.
"Likewise, in a period of just seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars. They said they were 'unendable, you are never going to get them solved'," Trump said in his address at the General Debate of the high-level 80th session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
Trump said some of the wars he helped end were going on for decades.
"I ended seven wars, and in all cases they were raging, with countless thousands of people being killed. This includes Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, the Congo and Rwanda -- a vicious, violent war that was, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia and Armenia and Azerbaijan," the US president said.
"It included all of them. No president or prime minister, and for that matter, no other country has ever done anything close to that. And I did it in just seven months. It's never happened before. There's never been anything like that. Very honoured to have done it,” Trump added.
