Trump eyes tough tariffs: Targets nations buying Russian oil; claims ‘talks with Russia soon’
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday hinted at tariff actions against countries continuing to import energy from Russia, including India and China, “in a fairly short period of time.“While stopping short of confirming a 100% tariff, Trump said such measures were under serious consideration.“I never said a percentage, but we’ll be doing quite a bit of that. We’ll see what happens over the next fairly short period of time,” Trump said at a White House press conference.“We have a meeting with Russia tomorrow. We’re going to see what happens,” he added.This comes after Trump imposed a 25% tariff and penalty on India for peocuring crude oil from Russia.On Tuesday, Trump had said that he would ‘very substantially’ raise the tariff rate on India. In an interview with CNBC, Trump said, “They’re fuelling the war machine, and if they’re going to do that, then I’m not going to be happy.”“India has not been a good trading partner, because they do a lot of business with us, but we don’t do business with them. So we settled on 25%, but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil,” he had said in the interview.Trump had dismissed India’s proposal of zero tariffs on American imports, expressing disapproval of India’s role in the Ukrainian conflict through its oil trade with Russia.In the interview, Trump had criticised India’s existing tariff structure as very high. “Now, I will say this, India went from the highest tariffs ever. They will give us zero tariffs, and they’re going to let us go in. But that’s not good enough, because of what they’re doing with oil — not good.”
India’s stand on Russia crude oil trade
The US has been pressuring India to stop all crude oil trade with Russia, with the Donald Trump administration alleging that it amounts to India ‘financing’ Russia’s war against Ukraine.The foreign ministry has responded to Trump’s threats of penalties and higher tariffs by calling out the double standards and hypocrisy of the US and European Union.“It is revealing that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia (despite the Ukraine war),” read the MEA statement issued late on Monday.“…the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” the statement concluded.Despite Western pressure to reduce ties with Russia over the Ukraine conflict, India has maintained its position, citing historical relationships and economic necessities.
