Trump urges EU to impose 100% tariffs on China, India to pressure Putin
[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump urged EU officials on Tuesday (Sep 9) to hit China with tariffs of up to 100 per cent as part of a strategy to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a US official and an EU diplomat.
Trump also encouraged the European Union to slap India with similarly expansive tariffs, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
China and India are major purchasers of Russian oil and, as such, they play a vital role in keeping Russia’s economy afloat as it continues to pursue its expanded invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022.
Trump made the request, which was conveyed via conference call, to EU sanctions envoy David O’Sullivan and other EU officials. The EU delegation is currently in Washington to discuss sanctions coordination.
The EU diplomat said the US had indicated it was willing to impose similar tariffs if the EU heeded the US request. “They are basically saying: We’ll do this, but you need to do it with us.”
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.
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China firmly opposes the US applying such so-called economic pressure, its foreign ministry said at a regular press briefing on Wednesday, adding that it also opposed the using of China in discussions on Russia.
Trump, whose request was first reported by the Financial Times, has frequently threatened to impose tariffs on India and China as punishment for their purchases of Russian crude. While he did hike tariffs on India over the summer by 25 percentage points in part due to its economic relationship with the Kremlin, he has yet to pull the trigger on the more punishing options he has floated.
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.
Later on Tuesday, Trump suggested that the US could in fact boost trade with India, writing in an evening social media post that the US and India are working to address trade barriers between the nations. He added that he was looking forward to speaking with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Officials in New Delhi said they do not believe the EU is planning any sanctions against India, and New Delhi has been assured no negative surprise will derail the ongoing trade talks with the EU.
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