President Donald Trump signed Executive order Wednesday to put An additional tariff of 25 % India for its purchases from Russian oilBringing the common definitions imposed by the United States Ally To 50 %.
The definitions will enter into force after 21 days of signing the matter, which means that both India and Russia may have time to negotiate with the administration on import taxes.
Trump’s movements can defend the economic path of India, which was seen until recently as a substitute for China by American companies looking to transfer their manufacture. China also buys oil from Russia, But it was not included in the matter signed by the Republican President.
As part of the negotiating period with Beijing, Trump put 30 % definitions on the goods from China, a smaller rate than the joint import taxes that New Delhi threatened.
Trump had reviewed the correspondents on Tuesday that the definitions would come. During an event in the Oval Office on Wednesday with Apple CEO Tim CookTrump confirmed the number of tariffs by 50 %, and not giving a specific answer on whether an additional tariff will be dropped on India if there is a deal between Russia and Ukraine.
“We will determine this later,” Trump said. “But now they pay a 50 % tariff.”
The White House said on Wednesday that Trump can meet personally With Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as possible next week, he is seeking the mediator to end the war.
On Wednesday, the Indian government described the additional definitions as “unfortunate.”
“We repeat that these measures are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ranhair Jaiswal said in a statement, adding that India will take all necessary measures to protect its interests.
Jaiswal said that India has already made it clear that the country’s imports were based on market factors and were part of the general goal to ensure energy security for 1.4 billion people.
Ajay Srivastava, a former commercial official, said the recent tariff puts the country among the most tax and over the American trading partners, such as China, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
He said: “The customs tariffs are expected to make Indian goods much more expensive with the possibility of reducing exports by 40 % to 50 % of the United States.”
Srivastava said Trump’s decision was “hypocritical” because China bought more Russian oil more than India last year.
“Washington avoids targeting Beijing because of China’s influence over critical minerals that are vital to American defense and technology,” he said.
In 2024, the United States managed a $ 45.8 billion trade deficit in goods with India, which means that America imported more than India than it was exported, according to the American Statistical Office. Consumers and American companies buy pharmaceutical drugs, gemstones, textiles and clothes from India, among other goods.
As the largest country in the world, India represented the United States to counter China’s influence in Asia. But India has not supported the sanctions related to Ukraine by the United States and its allies in Moscow even as India’s leaders preserved that they want peace.
In the United States and China are currently in negotiations on trade, as Washington has imposed a 30 % tariff on Chinese goods and faces a 10 % reprisal tax on Beijing on American products.
The planned definitions about India contradict the previous efforts made by the Biden and other countries in a group of seven leading industrial countries that encouraged India to buy cheap Russian oil through a price ceiling imposed in 2022. The countries collectively crowned Russian oil $ 60 a barrel at a time when prices in the market were higher.
The intention was to deprive Carameen of revenues to finance its war in Ukraine, forcing the Russian government to either sell oil by deducting or transfer money to obtain an expensive alternative freight network.
The price ceiling has been launched to question the parts and hope that this policy will make Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The maximum of shipping and insurance companies requires refusing to deal with oil shipments above the maximum, although Russia has managed to evade the maximum by shipping oil on the “shadow fleet” from old ships using insurance companies and trading companies in countries that do not implement sanctions.
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