‘Maybe they’ll be selling oil to India some day’: US, Pakistan strike ‘massive reserves’ deal; Donald Trump hints at future exports

US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that the US had struck a deal with Pakistan to develop “massive oil reserves”, further hinting at exports of the same to India. This comes after Trump slapped 25% tariff rates on India and warned of additional penalties for the country’s continued trade with Russia for arms and crude oil.“We have just concluded a Deal with the Country of Pakistan, whereby Pakistan and the United States will work together on developing their massive Oil Reserves,” he said in a post on TruthSocial.“We are in the process of choosing the Oil Company that will lead this Partnership. Who knows, maybe they’ll be selling Oil to India some day!” he added.Earlier, Trump said that the US was in trade negotiations with India, noting that India’s Brics membership was an important consideration. He mentioned that India was ready to make significant tariff reductions and hinted that more details would be revealed by the end of the week.Also read: What do Trump’s 25% tariffs on India mean? What happens if they stay“We are negotiating right now and it’s also BRICS. BRICS, which is basically a group of countries that are anti the United States and India is a member of that…It is an attack on the dollar and we are not going to let anybody attack the dollar. So it’s partially BRICS and it’s partially trade…We had a tremendous deficit,” he said.Since February 2022, Indian refiners have been snapping up discounted Russian oil, taking advantage of lower prices as many global buyers avoided Russian crude due to Western sanctions following the Ukraine invasion. Russia now supplies about a third of India’s oil imports, a sharp rise from under 1% before the conflict.Also read: Trump announces 25% tariffs – Where does that leave India-US trade deal talks? What to expect