Calling the duty an unfair surcharge, the think tank said the tariff, originally levied as a penalty for India’s earlier purchases of Russian oil, no longer reflects current trade realities. The appeal comes just days after US President Donald Trump publicly acknowledged that India has “very substantially” stopped buying Russian oil.
On November 11, Trump also confirmed that the duty had been imposed solely because of India’s earlier Russian crude imports, asserting that “we’re going to be bringing the tariffs down.” GTRI said that with this admission and assurance, the US should move “without delay” to withdraw the levy, instead of tying its removal to wider, slower-moving trade talks.
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According to GTRI, keeping the tariff in place now effectively punishes Indian exporters despite India’s major pivot toward American energy suppliers. Such prolongation, it warned, risks undermining goodwill and slowing the momentum in ongoing trade negotiations.
A timely rollback, GTRI argued, would reinforce Trump’s commitment, reward India’s rapid reorientation toward US crude and LPG, and remove an irritant in bilateral ties. It added that ending the surcharge would restore parity with other major economies, especially China, that continue importing far larger volumes of Russian oil without facing similar penalties.
Latest trade data underscores India’s shift. Between April and September 2025, India’s imports of US petroleum crude soared 66.9 per cent to USD 5.7 billion, driving up total US petroleum and product exports to India by 36.3 per cent to USD 7.5 billion.
Conversely, India’s exports of petroleum products to the US dipped 15 per cent to USD 2.3 billion, easing concerns in Washington that Indian refiners were routing Russian crude into US markets.
India has also signalled deeper long-term energy cooperation. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has contracted 10 million barrels of US Midland crude for delivery between November and March.
Separately, New Delhi has sealed its first structured deal to import about 2.2 million tonnes of US liquefied petroleum gas in 2026, equivalent to nearly 10 per cent of India’s annual LPG needs.
GTRI noted that India is now among the few major economies significantly scaling up imports of US oil and LPG. With no remaining strategic, political, or economic rationale for the tariff, the think tank said the United States should lift the surcharge immediately to signal that its policies remain “principled, fair, and responsive” to partners who act on American concerns.
With inputs from PTI