‘If I Have To Do It…’: Here’s What Trump Said On Imposing Secondary Tariffs On India
US President Donald Trump has signalled that he may not impose additional secondary tariffs on countries that are purchasing Russian crude oil, including India, softening his stance as he met Russian President Vladimir Putin for a historic summit in Alaska on Friday.
Relations between India and the US were strained after Trump imposed 50% tariffs on India, among the highest rates on any country, for purchasing Russian oil and called India’s economy “dead”. India has pushed back against the tariffs, calling them unjust and unreasonable.
While he was on his way to Alaska to meet Putin, Trump told Fox News aboard Air Force One that Russia had lost an oil client – India – after he imposed tariffs and indicated that he probably won’t have to impose any secondary tariffs.
“Well, he lost an oil client, so to speak, which is India, which was doing about 40 per cent of the oil. China, as you know, is doing a lot…And if I did what’s called a secondary sanction, or a secondary tariff, it would be very devastating from their standpoint. If I have to do it, I’ll do it. Maybe I won’t have to do it,” Trump said on Friday.
However, India has clarified that there has been no pause in Russian oil imports following Trump’s punitive measures. There were apprehensions that additional secondary tariffs would have hit India if the Alaska talks did not go well.
‘May Have To Think About It…’
After nearly three hours of talks with Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, Trump was asked again about the secondary tariffs on countries importing oil from Russia.
“India doesn’t buy your oil. The European Union won’t buy it. And why in the back of my head was I thinking, wait a minute, Donald Trump just delayed possible a possible increase in tariffs on China? Why do I think that probably President Trump was thinking ahead that maybe if you had to, that would have been part of the consequences?” asked Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Trump replied by saying, “Well, because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that 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.”
The highly anticipated summit between Trump and Putin yielded no agreement to resolve or pause Moscow’s war in Ukraine, though both leaders described the talks as productive.
US Warning On India Tariffs
On Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had said if “things don’t go well” between Trump and Putin at the summit meeting, then secondary sanctions on India for purchasing Russian oil could go up.
“I think everyone has been frustrated with President Putin. We expected that he would come to the table in a more fulsome way. It looks like he may be ready to negotiate. And we put secondary tariffs on the Indians for buying Russian oil. And I could see, if things don’t go well, then sanctions or secondary tariffs could go up,” Bessent told Bloomberg.
