India’s crude oil trade has evolved from a purely economic exchange into both a geopolitical test of strategic autonomy and a measure of the constraints in its energy policy. Over the past three years, India has gone from being a marginal buyer of Russian crude to one of its largest importers, carefully balancing ties with the US, Europe, and shifting global energy markets. That balance is now under pressure from Donald Trump’s 50 per cent tariff offensive, aimed selectively at India and leaving little ambiguity about his objectives—and in Trump’s world, what he wants, he usually gets. So what will define India's next energy strategy? ThePrint Consulting Editor (International & Strategic Affairs) explains, in this week's column.