In an opinion piece for the Financial Times, Navarro — a close confidant of US President Donald Trump — claimed India had become a “global clearing house” for Russian crude, refining discounted oil and reselling it abroad while allowing Russia to pocket badly needed foreign currency.

Bessent said that Beijing’s longstanding purchases of Russian oil were in contrast to India’s rapid increase in imports after the war in Ukraine broke out

In his op-ed, Navarro reiterated the claim that India's purchase of Russian oil were funding the Russia-Ukraine war.

In an opinion piece published in the Financial Times, Navarro severely criticised Delhi’s buying of oil from Moscow. India's purchases of Russian crude were funding Moscow's war in Ukraine and has to stop, he wrote.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on Thursday that the Trump administration is likely to levy tariffs on pharmaceutical imports under a "Section 232" trade investigation because it's "very clear that we have a national security crisis" due to U.S. reliance on foreign producers in the sector.

In a very sharply-worded opinion piece, one of US President Donald Trump’s closest advisors, wrote: “India acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil, converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs.