Trump Slaps 126% Tariff on Indian Solar Panels in Escalating Trade Fight

By Irina Slav - Feb 25, 2026

President Trump announced a massive new tariff hit on India, saying imports of solar panels to the United States would be subject to tariffs of 126%.

The move was motivated by the discovery that India was subsidizing its solar panel industry at the same rate of 126%. Laos and Indonesia were also targeted with import tariffs corresponding to the subsidy rates both governments provided for their respective solar industries. The tariffs follow a trade case brought to the Department of Commerce by the U.S. solar panel industry.

A fact sheet published on the Commerce Department’s website shows that U.S. imports of solar panels from India had surged from $83.86 million in 2022 to $792.65 million in 2024, amid a squeeze on Chinese solar panel imports and industry sensitivity to prices.

Bloomberg reported that India, Indonesia, and Laos together accounted for 57% of all solar panel imports into the United States in the first half of last year. The value of those combined imports was $4.5 billion.

The U.S. solar equipment manufacturing industry has been on a quest to curb imports of cheap Asian products for years. Asian solar panels two years ago brought global prices down by 50% over just 12 months, hitting $0.10 per watt, the Financial Times reported in 2024.

The U.S. solar industry was also being subsidized during the Biden administration, but at nowhere near comparable rates. Pressure from solar panel manufacturers led to a tariff move against Chinese panel exports just as India was accelerating its own solar panel-making efforts.

“American manufacturers are investing billions of dollars to rebuild domestic capacity and create good-paying jobs. Those investments cannot succeed if unfairly traded imports are allowed to distort the market,” the lead attorney for the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade said, as quoted by Reuters, in comments on the tariff news.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

Indian Refiners Pivot From Russian to Venezuelan Crude

By Charles Kennedy - Feb 25, 2026

Reliance Industries has bought its first cargo of Venezuelan crude since 2023 from Chevron, Reuters has reported, citing shipping data, amid growing appetite from Indian refiners for non-Russian oil supply.

That appetite was prompted by U.S. pressure on the Indian government to reduce its imports of Russian crude—or face higher tariffs. Reliance Industries, India’s largest refiner, received a license to buy and sell Venezuelan crude from the United States federal government earlier this month. Reliance was the biggest single buyer of Russian crude oi in India before the latest U.S. sanctions, which specifically targeted its biggest supplier, Rosneft.

According to the data, Reliance bought a cargo of Boscan crude, currently en route to its destination on the Ottoman Sincerity Suezmax tanker. This is the first cargo of Boscan to be sold in six years as well, the report noted. Reliance had also snapped another cargo of 2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude from Vitol, to be delivered next month. The Indian company was also looking for direct deals with Venezuela’s PDVSA, unnamed sources told Reuters.

At least three Very Large Crude Carriers are scheduled to load at Venezuela’s Jose port next month, the Reuters sources said. The tankers were chartered by Vitol and Trafigura - the commodity majors that were granted a license to deal in Venezuelan oil.

Earlier this month, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that oil sales from Venezuela, under the control of the United States for over a month now, are set to bring $5 billion over the next few months.

“Sales today are over a billion dollars, and in fact, we have sort of short-term agreements over the next few months that will bring in another $5 billion,” Secretary Wright said in the interview during a historic visit to Venezuela to meet with the interim President Delcy Rodríguez.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com