3 min readJan 29, 2026 09:29 AM IST
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Wednesday criticised Europe’s decision to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India, saying that he was disappointed with the “Europeans for putting the trade deal and their commercial interests ahead of Ukrainian people.”
His remarks came days after India and the European Union signed the trade agreement on Tuesday, a pact widely described as the “mother of all deals”.
In an interview with CNBC, Bessent was asked whether the US feels “threatened that some countries are moving ahead with free trade without them.” While he said Europeans are free to act in their own interest, he made clear that he found the move dissappointing.
Bessent accused European countries of indirectly financing the very war in Ukraine that they publicly condemn. “India started buying sanctioned Russian oil and guess who’s buying the refined products. The Europeans, so they are funding the war against themselves,” he said, adding, “that’s something you couldn’t have made up.”
The Treasury Secretary said Washington had responded by imposing a 25 per cent tariff on India for purchasing Russian oil — a measure Europe chose not to support. “The US sanctions or putting 25 per cent tariff on India for buying the Russian oil, the Europeans were unwilling to join us and it turns out that they wanted to do this trade deal,” he said. “So every time you hear Europeans talk about the importance of Ukrainian people, remember they put trade ahead of Ukrainian people, trade more important than ending the war in Ukraine.”
Bessent acknowledged that Europe’s heavy reliance on energy imports has influenced its choices, but framed it as a moral and strategic compromise. He said that the US, too, could benefit from lower energy costs — but only if it were willing to purchase sanctioned Russian oil.
Bessent: “I find the Europeans very disappointing because the Europeans are on the frontline of the Ukraine-Russia war. India started buying sanctioned Russian oil and guess who was buying the refined products? The Europeans. So the Europeans have been funding the war against… pic.twitter.com/QSkcdYL7QL
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 28, 2026
“They need energy, I guess, which is part of their issue. At a price, they want cheap energy,” he said, adding that the US could also benefit from cheaper energy “if we were willing to buy sanctioned Russian oil.”
India-EU FTA
India and the European Union Tuesday signed the FTA, with agreements on security and defence partnerships and mobility partnership frameworks.
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The deal struck is expected to double EU exports to India by 2032 by eliminating or reducing tariffs in 96.6 per cent of traded goods by value, the EU said, adding that this will lead to savings of 4 billion euros ($4.75 billion) in duties for European companies. The EU will cut tariffs on 99.5 per cent goods traded over seven years, with tariffs to be cut to zero on Indian marine goods, leather products, chemicals, rubber, base metals and gems and jewellery, India’s trade ministry said in a statement.
