Tariffs targeted at Putin, not to shape foreign relations: Greer

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said India has already begun diversifying away from Russia as a source of energy, expressing optimism about resolving trade tensions while acknowledging New Delhi's sovereignty over its foreign relations.

- Shashank Mattoo

Speaking at the Economic Club of New York this week, Greer argued that Russian energy purchases were not “some bedrock part of the Indian economy’ and suggested India could shift away from Moscow's oil without major economic disruption.

“This is something we believe they can do and should do and frankly I can already see them starting to diversify. I think they get it,” Greer said, noting that India had only ramped up energy purchases from Russia after the Ukraine war began in 2022.

Greer emphasised that Washington was not seeking to dictate India’s foreign relationships, while maintaining pressure over the specific issue of Russian energy purchases that the Trump administration argues funds Moscow's war effort.