TMTPOST -- More countries could be the target after U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday hit India with extra tariffs for the Asian economy’s purchase of Russian oil.
Credit：Xinhua News Agency
More countries would face Russia-related sanctions on Friday, the Wall Street Journal cited a Trump’s advisor on Wednesday. The Trump administration is still expected to implement secondary sanctions on Friday even though the officials expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the meeting between special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier Wednesday, Bloomberg learned from a White House official.
CNBC echoed as a White House official said the second tariffs that Trump has threatened against countries buying Russian oil are still expected to be implemented on Friday. Friday is Trump’s self-imposed deadline for Russia to reach ceasefire agreement with Ukraine, or else he would impose sanctions and secondary tariffs on Moscow.
Secondary sanctions target commercial activity involving a party under primary sanctions but occurring outside U.S. legal jurisdiction. The secondary tariffs could see goods from any country that trades with Russia face a 100% tax when they are imported into the U.S.
India on Wednesday became the first country to be punished by the U.S. over its buying Russian oil. Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional 25-percent tariff on imports from India over Russian oil purchase. The president said in the order that he found “the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.”
Trump in the order also directed senior officials including U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to determine whether any other country is directly or indirectly importing Russian oil.
If Lutnick finds a country is directly or indirectly importing Russian oil, the Secretary of state Marco Rubio, in consultation with Lutnick and other Trump’s cabinet members, shall recommend whether and to what extent the president should take action as to that country, including whether he should impose an extra duty of 25% on imports from that country, according to the order.
The new 25% tariffs on India will enter into effect 21 days after announcement of the order, which will effectively raise tariffs imposed by the U.S. on Indian goods to 50% this month. Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to modify reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries, with the tariff rates ranging from 10% to 41%. U.S. imports from are subject to a 25% tariff starting August 7, Thursday.
The 50% tariff rate is well above the 10% baseline tariffs that goods from most U.S. trading partners including India have charged since April. India became one of the countries facing the highest U.S. tariffs this month.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India responded to Trump's threat with a statement reiterating that the targeting of India is"unfair, unjustified and unreasonable." “We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact that our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India,” the ministry said.
The MEA said It is therefore extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest. It repeated New Delhi’s pledge to “take all actions necessary to protect its national interests.”
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