President Trump said on Monday he will raise tariffs on India for buying and selling oil from Moscow, arguing that the country doesn’t care about the Ukrainian casualties from the war with Russia.
The president didn’t say how much the tariff will increase on India, after he said he would impose a 25 percent tariff on the trading partner last month.
“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits,” he said on Truth Social. “They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine. Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA.”
The president previously had vowed to hit India with a penalty for buying military equipment and energy from Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
India said it would continue buying oil from Moscow on Saturday. The Indian foreign ministry called the relationship with Russia “steady and time-tested” and that it’s stance on security energy is guided by the availability of oil in the markets.
Top administration officials, including Trump, had insisted for months that a deal with India was pending but never announced one. The lack of a deal then led the president to slap the 25 percent tariff and additional import tax on India.
Trump in recent weeks has also grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin and shortened the timeline for him to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine to within the next two weeks.
Without a ceasefire, he has warned that Russia would face additional sanctions and tariffs, indicating he would impose a 100 percent “secondary” tariff, which would target other nations that do business with Russia.
