Washington/New York, Aug 5 US President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday morning that he will impose higher tariffs on India in the next 24 hours for buying Russian oil and reselling products abroad, even though he asserted New Delhi was going to offer zero tariffs.
Trump, who announced a 25 per cent tariff on India last week, told CNBC: “I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil.”
“India went from the highest tariffs ever (to)… they will give us zero tariffs, and they can go in,” he said. “But that’s not good enough because of what they’re doing with oil, not good.”
Trump did not indicate what the Russian oil penalty tariff on India would be.
He appeared to single out India, even though China, Turkey, and the European Union were also buying Russian oil, asserting that India was reselling products made from it at a high profit.
India’s External Affairs Ministry alluded to the double standards, saying Trump’s threat was “unjustified and unreasonable”.
EU’s trade with Russia was estimated at $67.5 billion last year, and the US “continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals”, it said.
“In this background, the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable,” it said.
“Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” it added.
