Europe Asia News

India is increasing its energy imports from the United States in an effort to reduce its trade surplus with Washington, one of the key demands put forward by the Trump administration during trade talks with New Delhi.

Puri said that under what he described as a “first in history” agreement, India’s state-owned oil companies have signed a one-year contract to import around 2.2 million tonnes of LPG annually from the U.S. Gulf Coast. “This will be the first structured U.S. LPG contract for the Indian market, and purchases will be made using Mount Belvieu as the reference point for LPG pricing,” he added.

Given that India’s total annual LPG imports amount to around 20–21 million tonnes, sourcing 10 percent of that supply from the United States would mean roughly 1 billion dollars in additional imports from the U.S. at current prices.

Since August, relations between the United States and India have grown strained after Washington began imposing a 50 percent customs duty on Indian goods. As part of a broader strategy to address trade imbalances and boost domestic industry, India responded with a reciprocal 25 percent tariff on U.S. products, while the remaining 25 percent was linked to India’s imports of oil from Russia.

In September, U.S. President Donald Trump stepped up his criticism of India, describing the trade relationship between the two countries as “a totally one-sided disaster.” In the same month, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who was in the United States for trade talks, was reported as saying that India would increase its trade in energy products with the United States in the coming years.

The U.S. President also claimed that India had “largely stopped” buying Russian oil, but this has yet to be corroborated by the data. According to figures from tanker-tracking firm Kpler, as of November 17 India’s imports of Russian crude oil stood at about 1.85 million barrels per day, compared with 1.6 million barrels per day in October – still a relatively high level.

India’s oil imports from the United States “surged sharply in October, reaching 568,000 barrels per day – the highest level since February 2021.”