India, Aug. 19 -- As President Donald Trump's "penal" tariff deadline for India nears, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent argued why China is not yet seeing any such penalties yet for buying Russian oil too.

The reason for the different treatment is because India has been "profiteering" and "making billions" from its reselling of the oil, Bessent said to a question in a TV interview on Tuesday.

He told CNBC that India made "huge" profits on the sale of Russian oil during and after the war in Ukraine. This remark from the US official comes as he defended Trump's decision to not penalise China for its Russian oil purchase.

"China's importing (Russian oil) is suboptimal. Pre-invasion (of Ukrainian territory by Russia), 13 per cent of Chi...