TMTPOST -- U.S. President Donald Trump in a recent interview dismissed any short-run plan to hike tariffs on China for its purchases of sanctioned Russian oil.
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Trump said he didn’t need to consider extra China tariffs given the progress he was made with Russian President Vladimir Putin toward ending the war in Ukraine. "Well, because of what happened today, I think I don't have to think about that," Trump told Fox News when asked if he was now considering tariffs on China, just like retaliatory actions against India, one of the big buyers of Russian oil.
Trump then didn’t rule out such secondary tariffs on Beijing. "Now, I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don't have to think about that right now. I think, you know, the meeting went very well," said the president after his meeting with Putin in Alaska last Friday.
Trump rated his summit with Putin a perfect “10 out of 10”, touting “very good progress” toward peace in Ukraine. But he acknowledged the two leaders didn’t reach any agreement about ceasefire or ending the conflict. "There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say," Trump told the press following the meeting. "A couple of big ones that we haven't quite gotten there, but we've made some headway. So, there's no deal until there's a deal."
Trump on August 6 signed an executive order imposing an additional 25% tariff on imports from India over Russian oil purchase. The new tariffs 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.
The day Trump unveiling new tariffs on India, the president hinted at the possibility of secondary tariffs on China for Beijing’s purchase of Russian oil.
Pressed by a question on penalizing China for that reason, Trump on August 6 replied “may happen” after saying he expected to announced more secondary sanctions with the aim to press Russia to end its war in Ukraine
“I mean I don’t know. I can’t tell you yet. But I can — we did it with — we did it with India. We’re doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China,” Trump said in the White House. He didn’t give further details.
But White House trade adviser Peter Navarro August 6 sent signals conflicting Trump’s, suggesting Washington is unlikely to levy additional tariffs on China because it would shoot itself in the foot.
“Let’s see what happens,” Navarro told reporters. “We have over 50% tariffs on China. We don’t want to get to a point where we hurt ourselves.”
Commenting on Trump’s threat of secondary tariffs, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun on August 8 repeated China’s stance on oil purchases from Russia, stressing the legitimacy.
“China’s position on this issue is consistent and clear. It is legitimate and lawful for China to engage in economic, trade and energy cooperation with other countries, including Russia. We will continue to take energy supply measures that are right for China based on our national interests,” said Guo.
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