White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on Aug. 3 accused India of financing Russia’s war in Ukraine through its continued purchasing of oil from Moscow, weeks after President Donald Trump threatened secondary tariffs on nations that buy Russian oil.

In an interview with Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Miller said the United States is now “in a position of economic strength to deal with Russia” and the war.

“So what [Trump] said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia,” he said. “People will be shocked to learn that India is basically tied with China in purchasing Russian oil. That’s an astonishing fact.”

The Indian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

In July, Trump said he would impose “very severe” 100 percent secondary tariffs on any nations that purchase petroleum from Moscow, if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not agree to a cease-fire with Ukraine within 50 days. After the European Union imposed a full embargo on Russian oil products in February 2023, some of the remaining countries that purchase Russian petroleum include China, India, and Turkey.

Secondary tariffs would affect exports from any nation that buys oil from Russia. So if China continues purchasing petroleum from Russia, its exports into the United States would see an additional tariff.

On July 29, Trump shortened his timeline for a cease-fire with Ukraine, warning Moscow to agree to a truce and end its war with Kyiv by Aug. 8 or face new sanctions.

“I don’t know if it’s going to affect Russia, because [Putin] wants to obviously, probably keep the war going,” Trump said, describing Russia’s conflict with Ukraine as a “disgusting war.”

“It may or may not affect them, but it could,” he added.

The next day, Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on Indian goods beginning on Aug. 1, along with unspecified penalties on the Asian nation. He cited India’s high trade barriers and continued reliance on Russian energy and military equipment.

“They have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Miller told Fox News on Aug. 3, “India portrays itself as being one of our closest friends in the world, but they don’t accept our products, they impose massive tariffs on us, we also know they engage in a lot of cheating on immigration policies that is very harmful to American workers.”

“And of course, we see again, the purchasing of [Russian] oil,” Miller added. “So President Trump, he wants a tremendous relationship, and has had always a tremendous relationship with India and the prime minister, but we need to get real about dealing with the financing of this war.”

The White House deputy chief of staff said Trump has all options on the table to “deal diplomatically, financially, and otherwise” with the war in order to “achieve peace and end the war.”

Andrew Moran, Andrew Thornebrooke, and Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.