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Trump aide Peter Navarro accuses India of "profiteering" from Russian oil import, X fact-checks post

| @indiablooms | Sep 07, 2025, at 11:38 am

US President Donald Trump's senior trade adviser, Peter Navarro, who has been attacking India continuously over its trade and foreign policies with Russia, has made another anti-India post on X.

However, this time, he was fact-checked by X, who called his claims "hypocritical."

In the post, Navarro accused India of "profiteering" from the Russian oil imports.

"FACTS: India highest tariffs costs US jobs. India buys Russian oil purely to profit/Revenues feed Russia war machine. Ukrainians/Russians die. U.S. taxpayers shell out more. India can't handle truth/spins," he wrote.

The X's fact-checking note, however, corrected him, saying India's Russian oil purchases are for "energy security" and they "do not violate sanctions".

"While India has some tariffs, the US has a trade surplus with it in services. The US also continues to import certain commodities from Russia, which is hypocritical," it said.

"Navarro's claims are hypocritical. India's legal, sovereign purchases of Russian oil for energy security do not violate international law."

Navarro then slammed X CEO Elon Musk for fact-checking his post, saying he is letting propaganda into people's posts

Navarro has been continuously attacking India, especially after Trump imposed secondary tariffs on India for buying Russian oil.

The US tariffs on Indian exports now stand above 50 per cent - the highest tariff Trump has imposed as per his fresh list, apart from Brazil.

Hours after the punitive tariffs on India had come into effect, Navarro had labelled the Russia-Ukraine conflict as "Modi's war".

He claimed that it was because of New Delhi's continued purchase of Russian oil that Moscow's military aggression was being fuelled.

"Modi's a great leader... But I don't understand why he's getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping...when he's the leader of the biggest democracy in the world," he told Fox News during an interview.

“I want people to understand what’s happening. Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people,” he said.

The remark drew sharp criticisms from Indian opposition leaders.

Later, he also accused India of running a "profiteering scheme" by continuing to import Russian oil and labelled India the "Maharaj" of tariffs.

Recently, Navarro called India a "laundromat for the Kremlin" and made a casteist remark.

"You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop," he said, alleging that Indian refiners were buying discounted Russian crude, processing it, and exporting it at a premium.

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