US President Donald Trump has urged the European Union to hit India and China with tariffs of up to 100 percent as part of a strategy to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin, Reuters quoted a US official and an EU diplomat as saying.
The US President’s request was conveyed via a conference call to EU sanctions envoy David O’Sullivan and other EU officials. The EU delegation is currently in Washington to discuss sanctions coordination, it was known.
According to the report, the EU diplomat said the United States had indicated it was willing to impose similar tariffs if the European Union heeded America’s request.
The US request, if heeded, would result in a change of strategy for the EU, which has preferred to isolate Russia with sanctions rather than tariffs.
A report by The Financial Times suggested that the European capitals were discussing potential secondary sanctions against countries such as China and India for buying Russian oil and gas.
However, many are nervous, given the EU’s trade relations with Beijing and New Delhi, it added.
The move by Trump comes after Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi cemented their ties at a summit last week.
Also, China and India are major purchasers of Russian oil, and Trump has frequently threatened to impose tariffs on India and China as punishment for their purchases of Russian crude, even after a 25 per cent tariff on India as a ‘penalty’.
At times, he has complained that Europe itself has not fully decoupled from Russia, which supplied about 19 per cent of EU gas imports last year, although the bloc says it is committed to fully ending its dependency on Russian energy. However, in a recent post on his Truth Social platform, the US President suggested that the US could in fact, boost trade with India.
He mentioned that the US and India are working to address trade barriers between the nations. He added that he was looking forward to speaking with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Trump, Modi say trade talks on
President Trump said Tuesday that trade talks with India would continue, despite strained ties since his imposition of 50-percent tariffs over New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil.
"I am pleased to announce that India, and the United States of America, are continuing negotiations to address the Trade Barriers between our two Nations," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding he feels "certain that there will be no difficulty in coming to a successful conclusion" for both countries.
Trump also said he would be speaking with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi "in the upcoming weeks," and Modi in response said he was "looking forward" to it.
Modi, in a post on X on Wednesday, said the countries were "close friends and natural partners", adding that he was "confident that our trade negotiations will pave the way for unlocking the limitless potential", he wrote on X. "Our teams are working to conclude these discussions at the earliest," he added.
Trump has appeared irritated at New Delhi as he seeks credit for what he said was Nobel Prize-worthy diplomacy for brokering peace between Pakistan and India following the worst conflict in decades between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May.
India, which adamantly rejects any third-party mediation on Kashmir, has since given the cold shoulder to Trump.–Agencies