The United States has called on Japan to halt its imports of Russian energy, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday, just hours after President Donald Trump announced that India would also stop buying oil from Moscow.
Bessent revealed on X that he discussed Washington’s “expectation that Japan stop importing Russian energy” during talks with visiting Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato.
Japan, which depends heavily on energy imports, spent 582 billion yen ($3.9 billion) on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2023—about 8.9 percent of its total LNG imports, according to customs data.
Kato, speaking to Japanese media in Washington, declined to comment directly on Bessent’s remarks. “I’d like to refrain from discussing what other ministers said,” he said, adding that Tokyo remains committed to working with G7 partners to achieve “a just peace in Ukraine.”
Earlier Wednesday, Trump told reporters that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to end purchases of Russian oil. “You know, you can’t do it immediately. It’s a little bit of a process, but the process is going to be over with soon,” Trump said.
Modi has previously defended India’s energy ties with Russia, a long-standing ally, despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tensions between Washington and New Delhi have recently risen, with Trump raising tariffs on Indian exports to the US to 50 percent in August. His aides accused India of indirectly supporting Russia’s war through energy trade.
Bessent added that he and Kato also discussed Japan’s potential “strategic investment in the United States” under the US-Japan trade and investment agreement.
