Donald Trump claims India scaling back Russian oil imports amid trade remarks

US President Donald Trump has reiterated his claim that India has agreed to stop buying oil from Russia and would bring them down to almost nothing by the end of the year reported news agency PTIHowever he said it is a process and will take some timeTrump also said that he would try to persuade China to do the same China and India are the two biggest buyers of Russian crude oilIndia as you know has told me they are going to stop buying Russian oil Its a process You cant just stop By the end of the year theyll be down to almost nothing almost 40 per cent of the oil India theyve been great Spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday Theyve been absolutely great the president told reporters at White House on WednesdayTrump has been claiming for the past few days that India has assured him that it will significantly reduce its oil imports from RussiaAccording to the US India is helping Putin to finance the war through its purchase of Russian crude oilThe relations between New Delhi and Washington have been reeling under severe stress after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent including a 25 per cent additional duty for Indias purchase of Russian crude oil India described the US action as unfair unjustified and unreasonable reported PTITrump said during his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping he would discuss with him ways to end the RussiaUkraine warWhat Ill really be talking to him about is how do we end the war with Russia and Ukraine whether its through oil or energy or anything else I think hes going to be very receptive he said reported PTIThe president said that the relationship between China and Russia is a little bit differentThough Beijings relationship with Moscow was never good it had changed due to the policies of the previous US administrationsChina is a little bit different They have a little bit different relationship with Russia It was never good but because of Biden and Obama they got forced together They should never have been forced together by nature they ChinaRussia cant be friendly I hope they are friendly but they cant be Biden and Obama forced them together because of energy and oil They are closer than they would normally be he said reported PTITrump is set to meet Xi on the sidelines of the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation APEC summit in South Korea later this monthDefending his trade policy Trump credited tariffs for strengthening the US economyWe are doing so well as a country right now because of tariffs Tariffs have been used against us for decades and that was slowly hurting our country Thats why we owe USD 37 trillion Because of tariffs were now a rich country Were taking in money like weve never done before he said reported PTIAsserting that tariffs were vital for Americas prosperity Trump said Without tariffs the US would become a thirdworld country I cannot let that happen With tariffs we are a rich secure country without them we would be a laughing stockTrump claimed tariffs have also helped prevent conflictsI solved eight wars Of the eight five or six were because of tariffs he saidRepeating his claim that he helped stop the recent military conflict between India and Pakistan Trump said he told the two countries If you want to fight thats okay But youre going to pay tariffs Two days later they called up and said theyre not going to fight anymore They have peaceTrump has been repeating his claim dozens of times that he helped settle the recent military conflict between India and Pakistan India has consistently maintained that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan in May was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations DGMOs of the two militariesWith inputs from PTI