US President Donald Trump announced that India has agreed to stop buying crude oil from Russia, as demanded by Washington. This resulted in the US reducing import tariffs on India from a maximum of 50% to just 18%.

Trump stated that he had discussed the matter directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and India agreed to switch to buying crude oil from the US and Venezuela instead, in order to cut off Russia’s revenue sources supporting the war.

The agreement resulted in the lifting of the 25% sanctions and a reduction in retaliatory tariffs to a final rate of 18%, along with a promise from India to reduce trade barriers with the US and purchase over $500 billion worth of American energy and technology.

Trump indicated that this is a significant pressure tactic on Russia and another step towards ending the Ukraine war.