‘Two great countries will get this solved’: US Treasury Secy Scott Bessent on relationship with India after Trump tariffs

“I think at the end of the day, two great countries will get this solved,” he said while also sticking to the criticism that India oil trade with Russia is financing Russia’s war against Ukraine. “But the Indians have not been great actors in terms of buying Russian oil and then reselling it, financing the Russian war effort in Ukraine,” he said.

“But the Indians have not been great actors in terms of buying Russian oil and then reselling it, financing the Russian war effort in Ukraine,” he added, while noting the slow progress in U.S.-India trade talks as an additional factor for the White House’s move to raise tariffs.

His comments come just hours after US President Donald Trump termed US trade with India a “one-sided disaster”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin against the backdrop of 50 per cent American tariffs on India.

“What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us. In other words, they sell us massive amounts of goods, their biggest ‘client’, but we sell them very little — until now a totally one-sided relationship, and it has been for many decades,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

“The reason is that India has charged us, until now, such high tariffs, the most of any country, that our businesses are unable to sell into India. It has been a totally one-sided disaster! Also, India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia, very little from the US. They have now offered to cut their tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago,” he said.

‘All options are on the table’ for Russia sanctions

Bessent in his interview to Fox news also warned Russia of sanctions over continuing its attacks on Ukraine despite recent peace talks.

“I think everything’s on the table…” he said when asked asked about potential sanctions on Russia. “President Putin, since the historic meeting in Anchorage, since the phone call, when the European leaders and President Zelensky were at the White House the following Monday, has done the opposite of following through on what he indicated he wanted to do. As a matter of fact, he has, in a despicable, despicable manner, increased the bombing campaign,” he added. “So I think with President Trump, all options are on the table, and I think we’ll be examining those very closely this week.”

— with inputs from Fox Business