Imperialism, considered by public intellectuals to be a thing of the past, has been resurrected; this time, the actions of the American President Donald Trump clearly reflect that.
Recently, the American Congress passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act 2026, which subsequently received Trump’s signature. Popularly called the Graham law, it empowers the American President to impose up to 100% tariffs on the largest buyers of crude oil and natural gas from Russia in order to “force Moscow to come to the negotiating table vis-à-vis Ukraine”.
At a time when the world economy is in the doldrums, Trump and his acolytes have thought of another way of undermining global energy and economic stability. It is worth an attempt to decode the nature of this issue.
Why India?
China and India are two of the largest oil buyers of Russia. However, America may be reluctant to impose the terms and conditions of the legislation on China because of several concrete reasons. First, China has rich reserves of several critical minerals and is the global leader in the production of rare-earth minerals; further, Beijing possesses one of the world’s largest mineral refining and processing capacities. This assumes significance in light of the fact that any attempt to impose sanctions on Beijing’s oil relationship with Russia will see the former retaliating by imposing restrictions on the sale of such critical minerals and the magnets made from the rare-earth minerals; these minerals constitute the core of the modern defense-industrial and economic-industrial base of the United States and any curbs on them can adversely affect America’s economic and defense preparedness. Second, unlike the Indo-US bilateral trade relationship, the volume of the Sino-American bilateral relationship is many times higher where Beijing enjoys a high trade surplus. In that context, the strategic thinking in Washington seems to be that bridging the trade deficit would require not antagonizing Beijing.
India on the other hand is a bit different; it does not have the mineral reserves China has. Further, notwithstanding the growing volume of the Indo-American bilateral trade, it is smaller in comparison to China’s trade volume with America, thereby not giving Delhi the counter-leverage to combat Washington’s illegal measures.
Washington’s Ulterior Motives
By trying to squeeze New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, Washington seeks to serve its own ulterior motive. By coercing India into reducing the volumes of the Urals crude, Washington seeks to sell its shale oil. In addition to this, Washington has appropriated more than 20% of the oil reserves of Venezuela following the toppling of the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in an American military operation. Therefore, in selling oil to India, the incumbent American administration under Trump is trying to not only keep the domestic oil executives happy but also to ensure that American oil once again establishes its dominance in the global markets it once did.
The timing could not be more calculated. Washington is negotiating a bilateral trade deal with New Delhi. While substantial parts of the negotiations have been settled, India is pushing back on a key area—agriculture and allied sectors, particularly dairy.
Given the fact that the majority of the Indian population is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture, the Americans seek to use this legislation as a tool to arm-twist New Delhi into opening up the agri-sector. Doing so would result in American agricultural and allied products flooding the Indian market both in the short and long terms, thereby sounding the death knell for Indian agriculture.
It is imperative that New Delhi takes countermeasures; otherwise it will be too late. We must not surrender our sovereignty to imperialists!
Pranay Kumar Shome, a research analyst who is a PhD candidate at Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Bihar, India
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