Embarrassing: Navarro is angry again after losing anti-India poll badly on X

US President Donald Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro launched a fresh attack on X after the platform fact-checked his claim that India is profiteering from Russian oil. In a tweet on Monday, Navarro wrote: "More bullshit from X. Fact: India didn't buy Russian oil in large quantities before Russia invaded Ukraine. It's blood money and people are dying. Stick that up your keister Mother Jones and shame on you."

The post came after X community contributors corrected Navarro's earlier statements. They said India's oil imports were legal, sovereign purchases for "energy security" and do not violate sanctions. They also pointed out that the U.S. itself continues to import Russian commodities, such as uranium, and maintains a services trade surplus with India. One note read: "India's sovereign, legal oil imports do not violate international law." Another called Navarro's claim "hypocritical."

Navarro dismissed the corrections and targeted Elon Musk, who owns X. "Wow. @elonmusk is letting propaganda into people’s posts. That crap note below is just that. Crap. India buys Russian oil solely to profiteer… Indian govt spin machine moving high tilt. Stop killing Ukrainians. Stop taking American jobs."

He later ran a poll asking if X should allow comments from "diverse viewpoints". Nearly 79 per cent of respondents voted "yes."

Elon Musk indirectly responded to the criticism a day earlier. "On this platform, the people decide the narrative. You hear all sides of an argument. Community Notes corrects everyone, no exceptions. Notes, data, and code is public source. Grok provides further fact-checking," Musk wrote on X.

Navarro has long argued that India is running a "profiteering scheme" by buying discounted Russian oil and selling refined products abroad. "Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India virtually bought no Russian oil. It was almost one per cent of their need. The percentage has now gone up to 35%," he said. "They get cheap Russian oil and make refined products which they sell at premium prices in Europe, Africa, and Asia. It is purely profiteering by the Indian refining industry."

But energy analyst Anas Alhajji has challeneged his claim. He told CNBC that India's petroleum exports are "virtually the same" as before the Ukraine war. "If you look at Navarro's arguments…this argument is false. The idea that they are importing to export is not correct," he said.

Alhajji said the shifts are better explained as re-routing of global supply chains. "India was exporting those petroleum products to Asia. And they diverted that to Europe because Europe or the EU sanctioned itself from importing Russian petroleum products. So India basically is compensating for that, while the Asian market is supplied by the new refineries in the Middle East in Kuwait, UAE, and Oman."