%{{tag.tag}} {{articledata.title}} {{moment(articledata.cdate)}} @{{articledata.company.replace(" ","")}} comment India's government says it will continue buying Russian %Oil, signaling its intent to defy U.S. President Donald Trump's demands to halt purchases and shipments. India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the country will continue to do "what suits us best" when it comes to the country's oil purchases. The latest government comments come as India has kept up its purchases of Russian oil, saying it will continue to do so as long as it's financially viable. India is the largest buyer of Russian crude oil as the discounted price has helped the world's third largest energy consumer keep its costs down. However, President Trump has said that India's oil purchases are enabling Russia to continue its war against Ukraine. In response to India's defiance, the Trump administration has doubled its tariffs on the South Asian nation to 50%, among the highest in the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin met earlier this week and reportedly discussed cooperation in areas ranging from energy to security, further irritating the U.S. government. White House adviser Peter Navarro commented that India has become a "laundromat" for the Kremlin in Russia. The new U.S. tariffs impact more than 55% of the goods that India ships to America. The U.S. is India's biggest export market. Economists at Wall Street bank %Citigroup (NYSE: $C ) have estimated that the 50% tariff will knock about 0.8 percentage points off India's gross domestic product (GDP). The Indian government has said that it is looking at measures to help businesses hurt by the high U.S. import duties.