WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with India on Monday, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to stop buying Russian oil over the war in Ukraine.
Trump said he was cutting tariffs on Indian goods to 18 percent. He had previously levied 25 percent reciprocal tariffs, plus an additional 25 percent for New Delhi's purchases of Moscow's oil.
Modi said Monday he had a "wonderful" phone call with Trump and thanked him for reducing levies on Indian products -- but made no reference to Trump's assertion about halting Russian oil purchases.
India's refusal to stop buying oil from Russia -- which Washington says funds Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- has been a bone of contention for months as Trump seeks an elusive end to the war.
"Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his request, effective immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump said that the United States would lower the reciprocal tariff imposed on India during his waves of global "Liberation Day" tariffs last year from 25 percent to 18 percent.
A White House official told AFP that an additional 25 percent tariff Trump had slapped on India for its purchase of Russian oil in August would also be dropped.
Trump added that Modi "agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela. This will help END THE WAR in Ukraine."
The United States is effectively overseeing Venezuelan oil exports since toppling the South American country's leader, Nicolas Maduro, in a military operation in January.