ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: US President Donald Trump has said India will buy Venezuelan oil, as opposed to purchasing oil from Iran.

“We’ve already made that deal, the concept of the deal,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, as he travelled to his vacation home in Florida from Washington.

Citing three people fam­iliar with the matter Reu­ters earlier on Friday rep­orted that the United States told Delhi it could soon resume purchases of Vene­zuelan oil to help replace imports of Russian oil.

India has not been imp­orting significant amounts of Iranian oil due to US sanctions, but became a major buyer of Russian oil after the Ukraine war started in 2022, triggering Western sanctions that drove down its price.

Trump in August doubled duties on imports from India to 50pc to pressure New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil, and earlier this month said the rate could rise again if it did not curb its purchases.

However, Treasury Secr­e­tary Scott Bessent signalled in January that the additional 25pc tariff on Indian goods could be rem­oved, given what he called a sharp reduction in Indian imports of Russian oil.

In March 2025, Trump imposed a 25pc tariff on countries buying Venez­uelan oil and last year threatened to impose the same tariff on India. The US government this week lifted some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry to make it easier for US companies to sell its crude oil.

“China is welcome to come in and would make a great deal on oil,” Trump said, without providing any details.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2026