Energy Secretary Chris Wright says India’s power security goals will have high element of US involvement; procurement of Russian oil still an issue
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright and India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met to deepen bilateral energy partnerships earlier this year. FILE PIC/X/@DrSJaishankar
The US seeks greater trade and energy cooperation with its “awesome ally” India, Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said, while acknowledging “friction” between the countries over New Delhi’s import of discounted Russian oil under sanctions. Wright made the remarks at a press conference organised at the New York Foreign Press Centre on Wednesday on the sidelines of the high-level United Nations General Assembly session.
Wright said India has a rapidly growing energy demand because of increasing prosperity and opportunity among its people. “I’m a huge fan of India; we love India. We look forward to more energy trade, more interactions back and forth with India,” he said. Wright was responding to a question by PTI on recent comments by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on expanding energy trade with Washington, and that India’s energy security goals will have a high element of US involvement.
“And then India is caught up in the middle of another issue,” Wright said, referring to New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil. Wright said US concern remains the flow of sanctioned Russian oil to countries like India, China and Turkiye, which he said is helping fund the war in Ukraine.
Wright said US President Donald Trump’s “greatest passion” is achieving peace in the world. “When I talk to him, it does not matter what the topic is, peace comes up. How can we use our tools and leverage to drive peace; And the Russian war in Ukraine, of course, is brutal. We all want to see it come to an end,” he said.
The Trump administration has imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on India as a penalty for its purchases of Russian oil, taking the total levies imposed on the country by the US to 50 per cent, among the highest in the world. The US accounts for about 18 per cent of India’s total goods exports, 6.22 per cent in imports, and 10.73 per cent in the country’s total merchandise trade.
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