Key points
- Trump presses EU to adopt 100% tariffs on Chinese, Indian goods
- S. says it will match tariffs “dollar for dollar” if Europe complies
- European diplomats warn of trade war risk with Beijing and strained ties with New Delhi
- Move aimed at forcing Putin to end invasion of Ukraine
ISLAMABAD: U.S. President Donald Trump has asked the European Union to slap 100% tariffs on Chinese and Indian imports in an attempt to cut off Russia’s oil revenues.
Meanwhile, Washington has also signalled it will mirror the duties if Brussels agrees.
President Trump made this demand in a call with EU sanctions envoy David O’Sullivan on September 9, Reuters reported, citing European officials briefed on the conversation. The Financial Times quoted a senior U.S. official as saying the administration is prepared to match any tariffs imposed by the EU “dollar for dollar,” calling the move part of a broader pressure campaign against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Strategic aim
Washington argues that despite Western sanctions and price caps, Russia has continued to sell record volumes of crude to Asia, with Chinese and Indian refiners among the main buyers. “Europe must act decisively. We are ready to act with them,” a U.S. official told the FT.
By raising duties to 100%, Trump hopes to eliminate the discounts that Moscow offers its Asian partners, cutting into the Kremlin’s wartime finances and increasing the cost of imports for buyers in New Delhi and Beijing.
European hesitation
European diplomats described the proposal as “extraordinary,” warning it risks sparking a trade war with Beijing and straining relations with New Delhi, which Brussels and Washington have sought to cultivate as a counterweight to China. Several EU capitals are reluctant to test World Trade Organisation limits or invite retaliatory tariffs that could ripple through supply chains and raise consumer prices across Europe.
India has yet to respond officially, but analysts in New Delhi told Reuters that punitive tariffs could imperil growing defence and technology ties with Washington. China has dismissed Western sanctions on Russia as “illegal” and vowed to protect its trading rights.
What comes next
European sources tell Reuters that the EU has yet to announce a specific forum for debating Trump’s tariff request. Some officials say the proposal could be raised at the next Gymnish—the informal gathering of EU foreign ministers—that will be scheduled under the upcoming rotating Council presidency later this year. The Gymnich meeting is held twice a year in the country holding the rotating EU presidency. The name comes from Schloss Gymnich, a castle near Bonn, Germany, where the first such meeting was held in 1974.
A senior U.S. official, speaking to the Financial Times, added that even if the EU declines to impose the tariffs, the Trump administration is poised to impose unilateral duties on Chinese and Indian goods “in the weeks ahead.”
