WASHINGTON (TNND) -- President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that during a phone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the prime minister assured Trump that India would cease buying oil from Russia.
"There will be no oil. He's not buying oil," Trump said. The change won't take immediately, he said, but "within a short period of time."
India's foreign ministry said it was "not aware" of the phone call. India is the second-largest buyer of Russian oil.
It said the government's consistent priority was to safeguard the interests of Indian consumers in a volatile energy environment.
"Ensuring stable energy prices and secured supplies have been the twin goals of our energy policy. This includes broad basing our energy sourcing and diversifying as appropriate to meet market conditions," said Randhir Jaiswal, a ministry spokesman.
He said the Trump administration had shown interest in deepening energy cooperation and talks on that were underway.
In August, Trump put a 50% import tariff on goods from India, citing the oil purchases from Russia as the reason for imposing the tariffs.
Trump has been pushing for this move to put more economic pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
On Thursday, Trump plans to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin, ahead of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday.
India's Trade Secretary Rajesh Agarwal said Wednesday that India was willing to increase its purchases of American oil and natural gas if prices were competitive.
Agarwal told reporters India has been buying around $12-$13 billion worth of crude oil and gas from the U.S. annually, and there was room to nearly double that without causing disruptions for Indian refiners.
A team of Indian government officials was visiting the U.S. to discuss a bilateral trade agreement that includes energy cooperation, he said.
In recent weeks, Modi has engaged positively with Trump's social media posts, including the one about the first stage of a peace deal between Israel and Hamas, suggesting New Delhi is keen to expand cooperation with the U.S.
In February, Modi and Trump set a target of finalizing the first piece of a trade agreement by the fall. Talks were suspended after five formal rounds of negotiations, following Trump's displeasure over India's continued purchases of Russian oil. He said that was helping to fuel Moscow's war against Ukraine.