United States President Donald Trump indicated on Wednesday that like India, China could also face additional tariffs for doing business with Russia.
When asked by a reporter at the White House whether he has any similar plans to enact more tariffs on China, Trump replied, “Could happen. Depends on how we do. Could happen.”
Later, he also said that apart from India, a couple of more countries could see similar additional tariffs, one of which could be China. When a reporter asked, “China having that tariff or sanction rather or not hinges on what going forward?” Trump said, “It may happen. I mean I don’t know. I can’t tell you yet but I can. We did it with India. We’re doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China.”
Trump also reacted to India’s criticism of the additional tariffs saying that several other countries are also buying oil from Russia, for instance China, then why is India being singled out for it. Trump said that a lot more secondary sanctions are upcoming.
“It’s only been 8 hours. So let’s see what happens. You’re going to see a lot more…You’re going to see so much secondary sanctions.”
Will Trump drop additional tariffs on India?
Donald Trump said that “serious” talks are going on with officials of Russia to stop the war in Ukraine and get out of there. On the question of whether Trump will drop the additional 25 per cent tariffs on India, which he has imposed as a penalty for buying Russian oil, if he reaches a deal with Ukraine and Russia, the US President dodged giving any clear answer and said that it will be determined later.
“Well, we’ll determine that later, but right now they’re paying a 50% tariff,” he said.
Trump’s remarks came hours after he signed an executive order on Wednesday, imposing additional 25 per cent tariffs on all Indian goods entering the US, along with the 25 per cent duties announced last week. These additional tariffs will come into effect from August 27.
India, in a strongly worded criticism for the high tariffs imposed by Trump, has called the move “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
