Washington wants Japan to halt Russian energy imports, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday, hours after President Donald Trump announced that India would stop buying oil from Moscow.

Bessent said on X that he had discussed with visiting Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato Washington’s “expectation that Japan would stop importing Russian energy.”

Japan relies heavily on importing oil and gas from abroad.

According to the latest customs data, in 2023, Japan imported 582 billion yen ($3.9 billion) of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG).

This accounted for 8.9 percent of its total LNG imports.

Japanese media in Washington quoted Kato declining to be drawn out on Bessent’s comments.

“I’d like to refrain from discussing what other ministers said,” Kato was quoted as saying.

“We are committed to doing what we can to realise a just peace in Ukraine by coordinating with fellow G7 countries,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump had said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised him New Delhi would stop buying 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 told reporters.

Modi has previously defended buying oil from Russia, a historic partner of India, despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

READ ALSO: Nestle To Cut 16,000 Jobs Worldwide Over Next Two Years

Trump in August had raised tariffs on Indian exports to the United States to 50 percent, with Trump’s aides accusing India of fueling Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Bessent said that he and Kato also discussed “plans for mobilizing Japan’s strategic investment in the United States through the US-Japan trade and investment agreement.”

AFP