Trump says India will start buying oil from Venezuela ‘as opposed to Iran’ 

United States President Donald Trump claims India will now buy Venezuelan oil after tussles last year over the South Asian country’s significant imports of Russian crude.

“India is coming in, and they’re going to be buying Venezuelan oil as opposed to buying it from Iran. So, we’ve already made that deal, the concept of the deal,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One on Saturday.

India has not been importing significant amounts of Iranian oil owing to US sanctions that have squeezed exports, but turned to Russia for supplies after Western penalties over the Ukraine war drove down the cost of crude.

The US president, who has said his country intends to control Venezuela’s oil sales and revenues indefinitely after abducting former leader Nicolas Maduro last month, had put pressure on India to stop buying Russian oil.

Back in August, amid efforts to pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine, Trump had doubled tariffs on Indian exports to the US to 50 percent to discourage New Delhi from buying Russian oil.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signalled in January that the additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods could be removed, given what he called a sharp reduction in Indian imports of Russian oil.

In March, as tensions spiked with Maduro’s administration in Venezuela, Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on countries buying Venezuelan oil, including India.

The US government this week lifted some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry to make it easier for US companies to sell its crude oil.

A White House official said the measure “would help flow existing product” from Venezuela and that there will soon be more announcements on the easing of sanctions.

Trump’s comments on Saturday appeared to reflect continued improvement in US-India relations, which have been tense throughout the past year.

Trump also said China could make a deal with the US to buy Venezuelan oil.