Trump says Putin has agreed to send diesel to US and global markets, a year after Washington punished India and others for buying Russian oil
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Russia will immediately supply diesel to American and global markets, a move aimed at easing fuel prices before the US midterm elections. The announcement stands out because Washington spent much of the past year penalising buyers of Russian energy, India among them.
What Trump announced
In a Truth Social post, Trump said he had a “highly successful” conversation with Vladimir Putin. He said Russia would immediately supply over 300,000 tons of diesel, another 500,000 tons in November and 1,000,000 tons right after that. He added that Russia would deliver 3,000,000 tons within a short period.
The US Treasury issued a general license on Friday allowing Russian diesel to be imported until April 7. Treasury said the temporary license was issued at Trump’s direction to allow Russian diesel onto the global market. According to the Kremlin’s account of the call, Putin said Russia was ready to supply oil and petroleum products to the US and global markets.
Why diesel, and why now
Diesel prices have risen about 70 per cent since the US and Israel launched the war with Iran on February 28. The wars in Iran and Ukraine have created a severe fuel supply crunch, pushing average US diesel prices to $6.28. Prices have also jumped worldwide because Ukraine has struck Russian refineries, which forced Moscow to ban diesel exports. After the announcement, US diesel futures fell by more than 4.8 per cent to $4.64 a gallon.
Doubts from analysts, anger from Kyiv
The US Energy Information Administration estimates that the promised volumes, 800,000 tons or about 6 million barrels, would meet only about a day and a half of US demand. Former US officials say it is unclear whether Russia has that much diesel to sell. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised the move, saying gifts to Putin will bring neither peace nor any benefit to the civilised world.
The contrast with India and China
The deal comes after months in which Washington used tariffs and sanctions to discourage Russian oil purchases. Trump imposed tariffs on Indian exports as a penalty for buying Russian oil, taking total duties to 50 per cent. In October 2025, the US also sanctioned Russia’s two biggest oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil.
Major Indian refiners, including Reliance, BPCL, HPCL and Mangalore Refinery, halted direct purchases from the two companies, and Chinese state firms Sinopec and PetroChina cancelled some shipments. India had chosen to be an outlier in buying cheap Russian oil.
China, however, was never hit with a comparable tariff for it. Trump has said Xi Jinping has been buying Russian oil for a long time, and the US avoided extra duties on China over it. New Delhi had conveyed its disappointment over what it saw as a discriminatory approach towards India and China.
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