Indian experts believe the U.S. president is trying to gain short-term leverage in trade negotiations with New Delhi.

Jaiswal argued that India only began importing oil from Russia after “traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict” before noting the U.S. appreciated this move at the time as it kept the “global energy markets” stable.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would increase the tariff charged on imports from India from the current rate of 25% "very substantially" over the next 24 hours, in view of New Delhi's continued purchases of Russian oil.