U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has recently expressed concerns over India’s defense trade with Russia, stating that the relations “rubbed the U.S. the wrong way.” He also emphasized the need for India to shift its defense procurement away from Russia and towards U.S. suppliers to strengthen bilateral relations. Lutnick also highlighted India’s participation in BRICS and efforts to create an alternative global currency as factors complicating the relationship.
India’s long-established arms trade with Russia has become a bone of contention with Washington, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said while addressing the eighth US-India Strategic Partnership Forum on Tuesday.
The commerce secretary noted that US President Donald Trump had explicitly raised these issues with New Delhi. Lutnick also suggested that India is “starting to move towards buying military equipment from the US.” Something Washington has been constantly pushing for.
“There were certain things that the Indian government did that generally rubbed the United States the wrong way. For instance, you generally buy your military gear from Russia. That’s a way to kind of get under the skin of America if you’re going to buy your armaments from Russia,” he said. He added that India’s participation in the BRICS group, which challenges the hegemony of the US dollar, is “not really the way to make friends and influence people in America.”
Currently, around 60% of the Indian military’s equipment is of Russian origin. After the recent standoff with Pakistan, Modi praised the prowess of the Russian air defense on Tuesday, particularly noting the performance of its Russian-made S-400 systems. “Platforms like the S-400 have given unprecedented strength to the country,” Modi said in an address to the soldiers. The systems were acquired from Russia in 2016 for $5.4 billion, in defiance of a US threat to impose sanctions.
Additionally, last month, India inaugurated a production unit for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in its northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The new facility will help New Delhi increase its defense stockpiles in light of a volatile security environment.
Lutnik made his remarks on India’s trade with Russia in the context of negotiations about a trade deal with India. While he reiterated Trump’s view of India as “very protectionist,” with tariffs on certain items reaching 100%, he said the countries are close to finalizing a trade pact that would benefit both. Lutnik stressed he is “very optimistic” about reaching a deal with India in the not-too-distant future.”
The US is India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $131 billion in the last fiscal year, according to government data. India exports more to the US than it imports, resulting in a trade surplus of over $41 billion.
Meanwhile, New Delhi and Moscow have set a target of increasing bilateral trade to $100 billion over the next five years. Bilateral trade between the two nations has skyrocketed since 2022 to cross the $60 billion mark despite immense pressure from the West on New Delhi to cut economic and political ties with Moscow. Modi and Putin have a good relationship, and India and Russia’s close ties go back decades. The US is looking to break both offering itself as an alternative. New Delhi does not always see the US in the same way as Washington has also been constantly supplying its key rival, Pakistan, both militarily and economically. These demands seem to be made more like threats than like an actual ally that understands India’s geopolitical concerns.