US President Donald Trump on Monday, once again claimed that India has stopped Russian oil imports and added that they are going to “bring down the tariffs” imposed on New Delhi.When asked about how close a trade deal with India is and whether he is willing to consider lowering the current tariff rate, Trump said, “Well, right now, the tariffs are very high on India because of the Russian oil, and they’ve stopped doing the Russian oil. It’s been reduced very substantially. Yeah, we’re going to be bringing the tariffs down…At some point, we’re going to be bringing them down…”Trump, earlier this year, slapped additional tariffs on India’s exports to the US in part to pressure New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil, raising the rates on many Indian goods to 50%.But in recent weeks, Trump has claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to wind down purchases of crude from Russia and expressed optimism about trade talks. Last week, Trump claimed, “They (trade talks with India) are going good, he stopped buying oil from Russia largely. He is a friend of mine, and we speak and he wants me to go there. We will figure that out, I will go…”However, India had denied Trump’s Russian oil claim saying it wasn’t aware of any phone call between the President and PM Modi. “On the question of whether there was a conversation or a telephone call between Prime Minister Modi and President Trump, I am not aware of any conversation yesterday between the two leaders,” MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said.
