India, Feb. 3 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi's phone call with Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez, days before the India-US trade deal announcement, has emerged as a key diplomatic move in the backdrop of a tense year in ties with Washington, where tariff pressure was directly linked to India's purchase of Russian oil.

Over the past 12 months, India-US relations were strained by steep American tariffs, repeated negotiations and public disagreements over New Delhi's energy imports from Russia. US President Donald Trump repeatedly tied tariff relief to India reducing Russian crude purchases - and said India should instead buy more oil from the United States and potentially Venezuela.

Against that backdrop, Modi's call with Rodr...