assured

Trump has recently targeted India for its Russian oil purchases, imposing tariffs on Indian exports to the US.

United States President Donald Trump says that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to stop buying oil from Russia, and Trump said he would next try to get China to do the same as Washington intensifies efforts to cut off Moscow’s energy revenues.

India and China are the two top buyers of Russian seaborne crude exports, taking advantage of the discounted prices Russia has been forced to accept after European buyers shunned purchases and the US and the European Union imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Trump has recently targeted India for its Russian oil purchases, imposing tariffs on Indian exports to the US to discourage the country’s crude buying as he seeks to choke off Russia’s oil revenues and pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine.

“So I was not happy that India was buying oil, and he assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia,” Trump told reporters during a White House event.

“That’s a big step. Now we’re going to get China to do the same thing.”

The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to emailed questions about whether Modi had made such a commitment to Trump.

Russia is India’s top oil supplier. Moscow exported 1.62 million barrels per day to India in September, roughly one-third of the country’s oil imports. For months, Modi resisted US pressure, with Indian officials defending the purchases as vital to national energy security.

A move by India to stop imports would signal a major shift by one of Moscow’s top energy customers and could reshape the calculus for other nations still importing Russian crude. Trump wants to leverage bilateral relationships to enforce economic isolation on Russia, rather than relying solely on multilateral sanctions.

During his comments to reporters, Trump added that India could not “immediately” halt shipments, calling it “a little bit of a process, but that process will be over soon”.

Despite his push on India, Trump has largely avoided placing similar pressure on China. The US trade war with Beijing has complicated diplomatic efforts, with Trump reluctant to risk further escalation by demanding a halt to Chinese energy imports from Russia.

The encounter between Trump and Williams will pit the game’s two most decorated left-handed players against each other in a repeat of the 2022 semi-final.

Trump edged that nerve-shredding contest 17-16 against the Welshman and expended little energy on Wednesday evening to dispatch Brecel.

Unlike the afternoon session when 2019 winner Trump did well to emerge at 8-8 after watching Belgium’s Brecel produce an array of stunning pots, once play resumed the Englishman was in the ascendency.

He set the tone with a superb 115 in the opening frame to equal Neil Robertson’s landmark total of 103 centuries set in 2013-14.

And he eclipsed the Australian in the very next frame with a run of 116.

That brought up Trump’s 11th century at this year’s World Championship, with the record of 16 in a single Crucible campaign, set by Stephen Hendry in 2002 and equalled by Mark Williams in 2022, now in his sights.

Brecel, who won the world title two years ago simply had no answer, scoring a meagre 19 points from the first four frames, and when he missed a brown to the left middle Trump wrapped up the contest.