Jaishankar to US on Russian oil: Don’t like it? Don’t buy it

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday (August 23) refuted the charges against India by US President Donald Trump and a section of his aides on making a profit by reselling Russian oil, saying that if anyone has a problem buying oil or refined products from India, then they should not buy it.

“It's funny to have people who work for a pro-business American administration accusing other people of doing business. If you have a problem buying oil or refined products from India, don't buy them. Nobody forces you to buy it. Europe buys, America buys, so you don't like it, don't buy it,” said Jaishankar at an event as quoted by ANI.

His comments come at a time when the India-US relationship has turned frosty with Trump's decision to slap 25 per cent retaliatory tariff on India for buying Russian oil, which, along with a 25 per cent reciprocal tariff imposed earlier, has taken the total US tariff rate on Indian goods to 50 per cent.

On Trump's foreign policy

He also stated that US President Donald Trump’s approach to conducting foreign policy publicly represented a significant departure from the traditional method of executing foreign policy.

“We've not had a U.S. president who's conducted foreign policy as publicly as the current one. That itself is a departure that's not limited to India. President Trump's way of dealing with the world, even dealing with his own country, is a very major departure from the traditional orthodox manner of doing so,” said Jaishankar.

Also Read: EAM Jaishankar meets Putin to discuss India-Russia ties

Red lines in Indo-US trade negotiations

As for the trade negotiations with the US, Jaishankar said that they are going to add that there are some red lines involving primarily the interests of farmers and Indian small traders.

“Negotiations (India-US trade negotiations) are still going on. But the bottom line is we have some red lines. Negotiations are still going on in the sense that nobody said the negotiations are off. People do talk to each other. It's not like there's a 'kutti' there,” said Jaishankar.

“Where we are concerned, the red lines are primarily the interests of our farmers and, to some extent, of our small producers. We, as a government, are committed to defending the interests of our farmers and our small producers. We are very determined on that. That's not something that we can compromise on,” he added.

Also Read: Jaishankar rebuts Trump, says China is Russia's top oil buyer

On Russia-Ukraine war

As for the Russia-Ukraine war, Jaishankar said that following his meeting with Trump in Alaska, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to him about his views on what was happening, adding that India’s stand on the conflict is that it was for the parties concerned to sort it out.

“Since President Putin had come out of Alaska, he spoke to me about his views on what was happening... Where we stand, we've been very clear from the very start that we would like to see an early end to the conflict. We've also taken the view that in any conflict, it's for the parties concerned to sort it out. In this particular case, because the parties concerned are also comfortable and the Americans took the initiative, we've been supportive of the efforts,” said Jaishankar.

“Because we are supportive of any efforts which would bring about that change... Overall, our good wishes are there for an early end to the conflict on terms that obviously the two sides have to set...I think it was visible that in Alaska, a lot of things were talked about, and some things were agreed upon,” he added.