Trump threatens 100 pc tariffs on countries buying Russian energy

Blitz Bureau

NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a secondary 100 per cent tariff on countries that import oil, gas and uranium from Russia, saying he was “very unhappy” with Moscow’s intransigence in finding an end to the war with Ukraine. He gave a 50-day deadline for the punitive tariff to take effect if Russia did not make a peace deal with Ukraine, while speaking to reporters with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House.

“We’re very, very unhappy with them, and we’re going to be doing very severe tariffs. If we don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 per cent, you’d call them secondary tariffs”, he said. The tariff is directed against Russia, but if it comes into force, India, which is racing to finalise a bilateral trade agreement with the US, would be a collateral victim of the Washington-Moscow standoff.

If China and India can be forced to stop buying energy from Russia, Washington expects it would impact Moscow’s war machine by squeezing the funds available to it. It could also motivate China, in particular, to put pressure on Russia to make a peace deal, in the US reckoning. Trump said he supported a proposed bill that would impose a 500 per cent tariff on countries buying energy products from Russia.

But, he said, “I’m not sure we need it” since he can impose the punitive tariff by himself. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham proposed the 500 per cent bill, which has 85 co-sponsors, including many Democrats. Trump added, “It’s certainly good that they’re doing it.”

Graham held off introducing the bill till he got a go-ahead from Trump.

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