US President Donald Trump made a pitch for more 'fairness' in bilateral trade between the two nations, and encouraged the need to export more American crude oil and gas to India, during PM Modi's visit to Washington D.C. during a joint briefing on February 13.
The US President said that India would be ‘purchasing a lot of our oil and gas’, pointing to the burgeoning trade deficit between the two nations. “They need it, and, we have it,” Trump said during the press briefing.
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A Moneycontrol analysis shows India’s share in US oil exports has declined in the last four years and Trump may look to revive this.
When Trump first came to office, India had a 2.7 percent share in US crude oil trade, receiving 140,000 barrels of the 5.2 million exported by the US every day. By 2020, India’s share had increased to 5.5 percent or 471,000 of 8.5 million barrels.
However, since then, the India-US oil trade has tapered off, with India importing just 402,000 barrels of 10.2 million exported annually by the US in 2023.
The share of US in India’s petroleum crude imports has slipped further in 2024. Of the $133 billion worth of imports till November 2024, US, placed fifth, accounted for just 3.4 percent. Compared to 2019, America’s share in India’s oil imports has declined from 4.5 percent in 2019 to 3.4 percent in 2024.
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Trump believes India’s burgeoning energy demand could help plug some of the deficit that US has been running with India in recent years.
Until November 2024, trade deficit between the two countries had risen to $37.8 billion, compared with $31.2 billion in the previous year, as per data from the Ministry of Commerce.
India’s deficit was just $19 billion when Trump first came to office in 2016, and rose to $22 billion in the four years of his first term.
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