Despite war and warnings, US traded more with Russia than ally Ukraine

United States President Donald Trump on August 6 announced an additional tariff of 25 per cent on India, taking the total to 50 per cent, making tariffs on India one of the highest in the world.

The tariffs, as per Trump, are a sanction against India for importing fuel from Russia. Trump alleges that India, by doing this, has been financing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

However, data by the US Census Bureau presents a different picture.

A deep dive into the monthly trade data of the US with Russia and Ukraine reveals that the US has been doing more trade with Russia than it is with Ukraine.

Ever since the war began in February 2022, the US-Russia total trade has stood at USD 25.233 billion, while the trade with Ukraine stands at a mere USD 9.69 billion.

If we merely look at import data for the two nations, as Trump’s major concern is India financing Russia through imports, we see a trend that exposes US hypocrisy.

• In 2022, US imports from Russia stood at USD 14.43 billion, while imports from Ukraine stood at $1.503 billion
• In 2023, US imports from Russia stood at USD 4.57 billion, while imports from Ukraine fell to USD 1.39 billion
• In 2024, US imports from Russia stood at USD 3 billion, while imports from Ukraine stood at USD 1.17 billion
• In 2025, till June, US imports from Russia stood at USD 2billion while imports from Ukraine stood at merely USD 769 million.

The trend is clear, in terms of imports. Even though substantially reduced, the US continues to buy from Russia more than it does from Ukraine.

In all, the US has imported goods worth over USD 22 billion from Russia, ever since Ukraine was attacked, while has only imported goods worth USD 4 billion in the same time period from Ukraine.

Now we take a look at the percentage increase in Indian trade cooperation with Ukraine, when it comes to Ukrainian imports to India, since the war.

When the war began during FY 2021-22, India imported USD 3.38 billion worth of goods from Ukraine, as per data published by the Indian Embassy in Kyiv, while in 2024-25 this data stood at USD 1.2 billion, which stands more than what the US buys from the war-torn nation.

Thus, the data is clear: While the US has accused India of arming and financing the Russian war, it is the US which is financing Russia more than it is financing Ukraine through trade, while India is balancing its partnership without taking a side and without financing any one side.

– Ends

Tune In