Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s phone call with Venezuela’s Acting President Delsey Rodriguez, days before the India-US trade deal was announced, emerged as an important diplomatic move against the backdrop of a tense year in relations with Washington, where the tariff pressure was directly linked to India’s purchase of Russian oil.
Days before Trump announced the India-US trade deal, Prime Minister Modi and Dulcie Rodriguez also agreed to take India-Venezuela relations to ‘new heights’.Over the past 12 months, India-US relations have been strained by steep American tariffs, repeated negotiations and public disagreements over New Delhi’s energy imports from Russia. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly offered tariff relief to India to reduce crude purchases from Russia – and said India should buy more oil from the US and possibly Venezuela instead.
Against that backdrop, Modi’s call with Rodriguez, focused on expanding cooperation in energy, trade and investment, came at a crucial moment.
Tariffs associated with Russian oilThe Indo-US trade dispute escalated in 2025 when the US imposed tariffs that eventually took total tariffs on Indian goods to 50%, with a punitive component of 25% linked to Russian oil purchases.
India has been one of the biggest buyers of discounted Russian crude since the Ukraine war, with imports rising sharply in recent years. New Delhi has consistently defended procurement essential for energy security and price stability.
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Trump has repeatedly cited these imports as a sticking point in trade talks. As recently as October 2025, he said Modi had indicated India would stop buying Russian oil, though no deal was followed then.
What Trump said in the announcement of the agreementAnnouncing the new deal after his latest phone call with Prime Minister Modi, Trump said the US would cut tariffs on Indian goods from 50% to 18%. He claimed that India had agreed to stop buying Russian oil and replace those imports with supplies from the US and Venezuela, among other trade commitments.
Trump wrote that changing oil sources would also help efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
A White House official later told HT that a separate 25% punitive tariff would be dropped as part of India’s deal to end Russian oil purchases, bringing the final tariff level to 18%.
Modi, in his public post, confirmed the tariff reduction and welcomed the move but did not specifically mention Russian oil or replacement sourcing.
The Venezuela factorJust days before the trade breakthrough, Prime Minister Modi spoke to Venezuela’s Acting President Delsey Rodriguez. The two leaders agreed to deepen and expand bilateral relations in various sectors including energy, trade, investment, digital technology, health and agriculture.
The call was the first between the two since Rodriguez took over as interim president. Both sides said they would take India-Venezuela relations to “new heights” and strengthen cooperation in various fields.
The timing drew attention because Trump, in his trade deal post, had clearly named Venezuela – along with the US – as a potential replacement source for Indian crude imports. Venezuelan oil is broadly similar in grade to heavy Russian crude processed by several Indian refineries, though analysts think supply constraints may limit full substitution.
A year of friction and frequent Modi-Trump callsTariff and oil disputes run alongside protracted negotiations and political wrangling. During the impasse, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed in a podcast that a deal fell through at one point because “Modi didn’t call Trump”.
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India’s foreign ministry rejected the claim, saying Modi and Trump had spoken on the phone eight times in a year and that engagement had continued despite stalled talks.
HT also reported on a Modi-Trump phone call in October 2025, when trade tensions and tariff issues were discussed but no progress followed.
Breakthrough after stalemateThe impasse finally eased after the latest Modi-Trump call this week, when both leaders announced a finalized trade deal framework and tariff cuts. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav described the agreement as a “win-win” deal for both the economies.
Washington direct oil U Having linked tariff relief to China and named Venezuela as an alternative supplier, Modi’s outreach to Rodriguez – focused on energy cooperation – is seen as a timely diplomatic move ahead of trade resumption.
The full details of the trade and energy arrangement are still awaited, but after a year of tariff shocks and oil-linked pressures, energy diplomacy has clearly become the centerpiece of the changing Indo-US trade relationship.
