India Slashes Russian Oil Imports Amid Fear of Trump Tariffs

India has sharply reduced its imports of Russian crude oil, amid growing concerns over possible trade penalties from US President Donald Trump, according to local media reports.

India’s Jamnagar refinery—the world’s largest oil refining complex—has not received any Russian oil for the past three weeks. There is also no likelihood of any Russian crude reaching the refinery later this month, India’s private conglomerate Reliance Industries has confirmed.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Mukesh Ambani-owned company said that no Russian oil cargo had arrived at the Jamnagar refinery in nearly three weeks, and that it does not expect any supply of Russian crude during the ongoing month of January. Reliance clarified this after media reports suggested that Russian oil shipments were heading toward Jamnagar.

Earlier, in November last year, Reliance Industries had announced that it would stop importing Russian oil for its export-oriented Special Economic Zone (SEZ) unit at Jamnagar.

At one point, India’s two private refiners—Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy—were the country’s largest importers of Russian crude. However, Nayara Energy, which has significant ownership by Russia’s state-run oil company Rosneft, drastically reduced Russian oil imports after the European Union and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on the firm.

India’s purchase of Russian oil has recently become politically sensitive. In August 2025, US President Donald Trump imposed a 25 percent “penalty tariff” on Indian goods, citing India’s continued imports of Russian oil.

Just two days before Reliance’s statement, President Trump claimed that India had reduced Russian oil imports in recent months to secure a trade deal with the United States and to “keep him happy.” He also warned that if India continues buying Russian oil, additional tariffs could be imposed “very quickly.”