Source: Reuters
“U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday accused India of profiteering from its sharply increased purchases of Russian oil during the war in Ukraine, saying Washington viewed the situation as unacceptable. Bessent told CNBC in an interview that Russian oil now accounted for 42% of India’s total oil purchases, up from under 1% before the war, and contrasted that with longtime buyer China, whose Russian oil purchases had increased to 16% from 13%. … ‘India is just profiteering. They are reselling,’ Bessent said. ‘What I would call Indian arbitrage — buying cheap Russian oil, reselling it as product has just sprung up during the war — which is unacceptable,- he said.” [editor’s note: “Unacceptable” to whom? What business is it of DC’s where India buys and sells its oil? Presumably a different US official will be picked to whine about it each day (yesterday it was Peter Navarro – TLK] (08/19/25)