Trump hits India with extra 25% tariff for buying Russian oil
US President Donald Trump issued an executive order with 25% more tariffs on Russian oil purchases on Russian oil purchases.
This will increase the total tariff for imports to the United States among the highest rates of the USA to 50%.
According to the executive order, the new ratio will enter into force on 27 August within 21 days.
A response from the Indian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, Delhi’s attitude to import from Russia has already explained that the tariff is “unfair, unjust and unreasonable” he said.
“For this reason, it is an unfortunate situation for some other countries to choose to bring additional tariffs to India for the actions of some other countries in their national interests.”
“India will take all the necessary actions to protect its national interests.”
The US President warned that India would increase taxes, saying that India said “how many people in Ukraine have been killed by the Russian war machine”.
“The White House said on Wednesday that the Russian Federation’s actions in Ukraine pose an ongoing threat to US national security and foreign policy and require stronger measures for national emergencies,” he said.
He said that India’s Russian oil imports weaken US efforts against Russia’s activities in Ukraine.
He added which countries of the United States would determine which countries import oil from Russia and “will propose more action to the president if necessary”.
Petroleum and gas are Russia’s largest exports and China, India and Türkiye are among the biggest customers in Moscow.
The threatening tariff hike is following the meetings on Wednesday by Steve Witkoff, the greatest ambassador of Trump in Moscow, which aims to peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Delhi previously called on Trump’s threat of increasing tariffs on Russia’s purchase of oil from Russia.
In an earlier statement, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said the United States encouraged the US to import Russian gas at the beginning of the conflict to “strengthen the stability of global energy markets”.
Authority said that India was “started to import from Russia, because traditional materials have been directed to Europe after the conflict erupted.”
The latest threat tariff shows the desire to impose sanctions on the war in Ukraine against the nations that Trump sees as important allies or trade partners.
This may be a warning that other countries may feel a real bit of bites if Trump increases such sanctions when the US President threatens Russia and puts 100% tariffs on the countries that purchase new sanctions to Russia.
This was for the first time to implement secondary tariffs that were available to punish Venezuela oil buyers for the first time.
India had previously criticized the US – the largest trade partner – to promote taxes while still doing trade with Russia.
Last year, the United States, despite challenging sanctions and tariffs, exchanged the goods with Russia, an estimated $ 3.5 billion ($ 2.6 billion).
Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to each other as friends in the past and participated in political rallies in each other’s countries in the first period of Trump.
However, this did not prevent Trump from shooting India with taxes, and proposed discrimination between the new Delhi and Washington.
According to the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a Delhi-based thinking tank, tariffs are expected to make Indian goods more expensive in the USA and may reduce the US exports by 40-50%.
“India should remain calm, avoid retaliation for at least six months, and accept that meaningful trade negotiations with the US cannot progress under threat or insecurity,” said Ajay Srivastava. He said.
BBC North American correspondent Anthony Zurcher and BBC Indian correspondent Soutik Biswas’ın additional analysis.
