United States President Donald Trump has accused India of indirectly supporting Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine by importing oil from the country. In response to this allegation, Trump imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods on August 6, raising the total tariff to 50 percent. This action has placed India among the countries facing the highest tariffs from the United States. Trump claims this move serves as a sanction against India for continuing energy trade with Russia, which he believes contributes financially to Russia’s war efforts.
However, trade statistics released by the US Census Bureau provide a contrasting narrative. A detailed analysis of monthly trade figures between the United States and both Russia and Ukraine since the onset of the war in February 2022 reveals that the US has, in fact, maintained a greater volume of trade with Russia than with Ukraine. From the beginning of the conflict until now, the total value of US-Russia trade has reached approximately 25.233 billion US dollars, whereas trade with Ukraine has only amounted to around 9.69 billion US dollars during the same period.
When the focus is narrowed to import data—Trump’s primary concern being India’s imports from Russia—the figures further highlight a discrepancy. In 2022, the US imported goods worth 14.43 billion dollars from Russia and only 1.503 billion dollars from Ukraine. The trend continued in 2023, with imports from Russia totaling 4.57 billion dollars and from Ukraine 1.39 billion dollars. In 2024, imports from Russia stood at 3 billion dollars, while those from Ukraine reached 1.17 billion dollars. For 2025, up to the month of June, the US had imported 2 billion dollars' worth of goods from Russia and just 769 million dollars from Ukraine.
These numbers clearly demonstrate that, despite a reduction over time, the United States has continued to import far more from Russia than it has from Ukraine. Altogether, the total US imports from Russia since the war began exceed 22 billion dollars, while imports from Ukraine are slightly above 4 billion dollars. This imbalance directly undermines the credibility of Trump’s accusation against India.
Meanwhile, India’s trade relations with Ukraine suggest a more balanced and less politically charged approach. According to data from the Indian Embassy in Kyiv, India imported goods worth 3.38 billion dollars from Ukraine during the fiscal year 2021–22, which marks the beginning of the conflict. By the fiscal year 2024–25, this number was reported at 1.2 billion dollars. Although lower than the earlier figure, India’s import volume from Ukraine still surpasses that of the United States during the same period.
The data makes it evident that while the United States has been vocal in accusing India of financially supporting Russia through oil imports, it is the US itself that has engaged in larger trade volumes with Russia throughout the war. On the other hand, India has managed to maintain a neutral stance by balancing its trade relations without significantly favoring either side. This contradiction points to a level of inconsistency in the US's trade policies and its public rhetoric regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
