'$1.3 billion in Russian imports': Former Indian diplomat slams Trump's 'bullying' and hypocrisy

Former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal has strongly criticised former US President Donald Trump for what he described as “bullying and insensitive behaviour” toward India, warning that Trump’s aggressive tactics are damaging bilateral ties between the two democracies. 

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Sibal reacted sharply to Trump’s reported rejection of an interim trade deal negotiated by US officials with India, saying, “Trump has rejected an interim deal worked out by his negotiators who thought it was a good one, with India making major offers. He wants a one-sided deal as with Japan and the EU about which he can preen about publicly.” 

Sibal questioned the logic of Trump’s tariff threats and their connection to India’s sovereign foreign policy decisions. “What has tariffs got to do with India buying oil and defence equipment from Russia? India already buys defence equipment and LNG from the US,” he wrote, pointing out the inconsistency in US policy. 

The former diplomat went on to accuse Trump of using tariffs as a tool to influence India’s foreign policy direction, calling it “leveraging tariff threats to control our foreign policy.” He also flagged the US administration’s use of Pakistan as a pressure point against India, a move he found deeply problematic. “He is using Pakistan blatantly as a point of pressure on India. What has this got to do with tariffs either?” 

Sibal also questioned Trump’s contradictory stance on trade, writing, “Why does he want to have a trade deal with a ‘dead economy’? These are not tactical moves but ill-considered ones with insults thrown in.” 

Highlighting the hypocrisy in US policy, Sibal noted that while Washington criticizes India for buying oil and defense equipment from Russia, it continues to do business with Moscow. “US targets us for buying oil from Russia but itself does business with Russia,” he said. 

Backing his claims with data, Sibal cited United Nations COMTRADE statistics showing that the US imported $1.3 billion worth of fertilizers from Russia in 2024. Further, referencing a May 2025 Argus report, he noted that Russia’s market share of US urea imports had grown to 64% after Trump imposed a 10% tariff on global fertilizer imports — excluding Russia and other sanctioned nations. 

The report also pointed out that recent EU sanctions on Russian and Belarusian fertilizers could push even more Russian exports toward the US, making Washington’s stance on India’s ties with Moscow appear selectively punitive. 

Sibal asserted that Trump’s confrontational and inconsistent actions had already caused significant damage to Indo-US ties, a relationship once touted as a defining partnership of the 21st century.