On Tuesday, the Indian Army's Eastern Command made a stinging remark directed against the United States by posting an old newspaper clipping dated August 5, 1971, referring to historical US military aid to Pakistan.
This was just one day after President Donald Trump had threatened to apply high tariffs on Indian products because of India buying oil from Russia.
The clipping from the archives, posted on social media, reported US arms support to Pakistan in the run-up to the 1971 war.
The caption on the Army post was: "This day, that year build up of war – August 5, 1971." The report said Defence Production Minister V.C. Shukla told the Rajya Sabha that though Soviet Russia and France had declined to supply arms to Pakistan during its invasion of Bangladesh, the US continued to provide support.
The report also said that the US and China sold weapons to Pakistan "at throwaway prices," implying Pakistan might have used weapons from them to fight the 1971 war.
Flash forward to current events, the US has once again extended better trade terms to Pakistan than to India. In re-shaping global trade in the American economy's interests, President Trump signed a new executive order on the eve of the August 1 deadline—instituting higher tariffs on various countries while lowering tariffs on Pakistan from 29% to 19%.
In a Truth Social post, Trump ratcheted up his attacks on India: "India is not only purchasing tremendous quantities of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big gains. They don't care how many people in Ukraine are being slaughtered by the Russian War Machine. Because of this, I will be raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA significantly."
India quickly rebutted these claims, reminding Washington that American officials had in the past urged India to import Russian oil, especially during times of worldwide supply disruptions following the Ukraine war. The Indian government also faulted the European Union, noting that even while targeting Indian refiners, EU nations themselves continued substantial trade with Russia, not out of compulsion but preference.
A government statement by India's Ministry of External Affairs emphasized that India's imports were "a necessity driven by the international market situation," while critics of its energy supplies were also the same people "indulging in trade with Russia" even if such a trade was not necessary.
The statement put things into perspective: "The European Union in 2024 had a bilateral trade of Euro 67.5 billion in goods with Russia.". Besides, it also had services trade worth Euro 17.2 billion in 2023.
This is much higher than India's overall trade with Russia in that year or thereafter. European imports of LNG in 2024, in reality, hit a record 16.5 million tonnes, ahead of the previous record of 15.21 million tonnes in 2022. Europe-Russia trade involves not only energy, but also fertilisers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel and machinery and transport equipment.
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