Why India is being singled out for buying Russian oil? Here's what Trump said

Trump suggested that China could also be imposed with additional tariffs for buying Russian oil

US President Donald Trump on August 6 suggested that India may not be the only country getting punished with tariffs for buying crude oil from Russia, with secondary sanctions likely on other nations, including China.

Trump, in response to a question on why India was being singled out, said there could be a lot more tariffs on other countries. “It’s okay. It’s only been eight hours. Let’s see what happens. You are going to see a lot more,” he said.

When asked if it could mean more sanctions, the US President said, “You are going to see lot more secondary sanctions.”

Trump said China could also be imposed with additional tariffs for buying Russian oil.

“I mean I don’t know. I can’t tell you yet. But I can — we did it with — we did it with India. We’re doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China,” Trump said in the White House.

More tariffs could negatively impact the China’s exports to the US and invite retaliatory tariffs from Beijing. However, trade adviser Peter Navarro said such action is unlikely because higher duties may hurt the US.

Ties between Washington and Beijing have steadied after the two sides agreed to put sky-high tariffs on hold as they seek to negotiate an agreement.

In contrast, the relationship between India and the US has unexpectedly went downhill, probably at its lowest in the past two decades after Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on New Delhi, doubling it up later to 50 percent for buying oil from Russia and “funding the war machine” in Ukraine.

New Delhi, in a sharp and rare rebuttal, said the comments showed the “double standards” of the West and the tariffs were “unjustified and unreasonable”. The government also said the Russian oil purchases were important for the country’s energy security, slamming Washington for singling out India. Moreover, India said US officials have actively encouraged New Delhi in the past few years to buy Russian crude to keep the global prices under control.

With agency inputs