US President Donald Trump's punitive 50 per cent tariffs on imports from India were meant to get an "aggressive economic leverage" for forcing Russia to stop bombing Ukraine, according to American Vice President JD Vance.

Speaking to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, Kumar described the United States’ move to increase tariffs by 25 per cent raising duties to more than 50 per cent, as “unfair, unreasonable and unjustified”.

JD Vance said President Donald Trump used "aggressive economic leverage," including secondary tariffs on India, to pressure Russia to end the Ukraine war. India defends its Russian oil imports as national interest as tensions rise in US-India trade ties.