India, Aug. 27 -- On the day that US trade tariffs on India hit a massive 50%, the US treasury secretary argued that the high duties are "not just over [India's purchase of] the Russian oil", but also over how long-drawn the ongoing talks for a trade deal have been.

"I'd thought we'd have a deal in May or June; that India could be one of the earlies deals. But they, kind of, tapped us along," he said, in an interview to the news outlet Fox Business.

He added, though: "India is the world's largest democracy. The US is the world's largest economy. I think at the end of the day we will come together."

When asked about India's rebuttal of the argument that others, too, buy oil from Russia, Scott Bessent prefaced his argument by saying, "It...