Washington, September 8: U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro has launched a fresh tirade against India, accusing New Delhi of profiteering from discounted Russian crude oil and calling the purchases “blood money.”
In a post on X on Monday, Navarro wrote, “Fact: India didn’t buy Russian oil in large quantities before Russia invaded Ukraine. It’s blood money and people are dying.” His remarks came with an expletive aimed at India’s policy of sourcing cheaper Russian crude since the start of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022.
Navarro, who earlier served as the White House’s senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing, claimed India’s oil imports were funding Moscow’s war machine. “India buys Russian oil purely to profit. Revenues feed Russia’s war machine. Ukrainians/Russians die. U.S. taxpayers shell out more. India can’t handle truth,” he said in a separate post last week.
When X appended a community note to his comment, providing links to news reports and counterclaims, Navarro lashed out at the platform’s billionaire owner Elon Musk. He accused Musk of “letting propaganda into people’s posts” and argued that “Indian special interests” were interfering in U.S. economic and political debate. “That crap note below is just that. Crap,” Navarro said. “Stop killing Ukrainians. Stop taking American jobs.”
X’s Community Notes feature allows users to add context or fact-check potentially misleading posts. According to the platform, the feature depends on contributors with diverse viewpoints whose notes are rated for accuracy and usefulness.
One such note challenged Navarro’s assertion that “Brahmins are profiteering,” calling it baseless and an attempt to meddle in India’s internal affairs. Critics said his framing risked spreading divisive narratives. Navarro, however, doubled down, alleging that India’s elite was benefiting at the expense of ordinary citizens.
The controversy comes amid heightened trade tensions between Washington and New Delhi. Trump recently doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent and added a 25 per cent duty linked to India’s crude oil imports from Russia. New Delhi denounced the measures as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,” pointing out that China—the largest importer of Russian crude—had not faced similar penalties.
India has consistently defended its oil purchases, maintaining that energy procurement is driven by market realities and national interest. Officials have stressed that discounted Russian crude helps cushion domestic consumers against global price shocks.
Since Western nations imposed sanctions on Moscow, India has emerged as one of the biggest buyers of Russian oil, a move critics in Washington argue undermines collective efforts to pressure Russia over its war in Ukraine.
