U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said India will buy Venezuelan oil, helping to replace some of the Russian oil that the world’s third-biggest oil importer buys.
“We’ve already made that deal, the concept of the deal,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled to his vacation home in Florida from Washington.
Reuters reported on Friday that the United States has told Delhi it could soon resume purchases of Venezuelan oil to help replace imports of Russian oil, citing three people familiar with the matter.
India stopped buying oil from Caracas last year after Trump in March imposed a 25% tariff on countries buying Venezuelan oil.
In his comments on Saturday, Trump said India would buy Venezuelan oil instead of Iranian crude. However, New Delhi stopped loading oil from Iran in 2019 due to U.S. sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Indian refiners turned to U.S. oil to make up for the loss of Iranian supply, then curbed U.S. purchases and became the top buyer of Russian seaborne oil sold at a discount after Western nations imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Trump in August doubled duties on imports from India to 50% to pressure New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil, and earlier this month said the rate could rise again if it did not curb its purchases.
However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled in January that the additional 25% tariff on Indian goods could be removed, given what he called a sharp reduction in Indian imports of Russian oil.
The U.S. government this week lifted some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry to make it easier for U.S. companies to sell its crude oil.
Trump’s comments on Saturday appeared to reflect continued improvement in U.S.-India relations, which have been tense throughout the past year.
Trump also said China could make a deal with the U.S. to buy Venezuelan oil.
“China is welcome to come in and would make a great deal on oil,” Trump said, without providing any details.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt aboard Air Force One, Robin Respaut in San Francisco and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Editing by Sergio Non, Christopher Cushing and Sonali Paul)