If Trump Offered Zero Tariffs on Indian Products, Would India Buy Russian Oil?

[rohan_shah]

I don't think India will have any incentive to buy Russian oil if Trump makes favourable trade deals with India, it is known that USA can't manufacture a lot many goods because of lack of cheap labour which India has in abundance along with democracy and a rule of law.

Why is USA being so hostile to India, I simply don't understand!

[jfengel]

Tariffs aren't specifically about hostility to India. They're hostile to literally everybody, including uninhabited islands.

Potentially, these tariffs could be used as bargaining chips for other policy goals, including foreign policy. Which could mean eliminating tariffs in exchange for cutting off Russia. Except:

* India may not accept the offer. Oil is a hugely important driver of any economy. Paying more for oil would make everything you manufacture cost more -- possibly offsetting any gains from removing tariffs. And it makes everything in the country cost more, including food. This may just not be a good deal.

* The current administration is ambivalent about Russia. They apply some pressure to Russia, but only within limited bounds. Sacrificing their bargaining chip (tariffs) just to nudge Russia away from war isn't a high priority for them.

[JumpCrisscross]

This has nothing to do with India’s energy purchases.

Put simply, Modi bet on the wrong man: “During a phone call on June 17, Mr. Trump…mentioned that Pakistan was going to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, an honor for which he had been openly campaigning. The not-so-subtle implication, according to people familiar with the call, was that Mr. Modi should do the same.

The Indian leader bristled. He told Mr. Trump that U.S. involvement had nothing to do with the recent cease-fire. It had been settled directly between India and Pakistan.

Mr. Trump largely brushed off Mr. Modi’s comments, but the disagreement — and Mr. Modi’s refusal to engage on the Nobel — has played an outsize role in the souring relationship between the two leaders, whose once-close ties go back to Mr. Trump’s first term” [1].

> USA can't manufacture a lot many goods because of lack of cheap labour

California’s manufacturing sector is 80% the size of India’s [2][3].

America needs manufacturing partners. Its manufacturing employment has steadily gone down over decades. And China is whooping its ass. But India is not—currently—a manufacturing hub.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/us/politics/trump-modi-in...

[2] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CAMANNQGSP $400bn, Q1 ‘25 annualised

[3] https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.IND.MANF.CD?location... $494bn in ‘24