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US Vice Prez cites Trump tariffs on India as pressure move against Russia to end Ukraine war: ‘Economic leverage’
JD Vance was asked what pressures could get Russia to table with Ukraine after Vladimir Putin held talks with Trump in Alaska, and Trump then met Zelensky
US Vice President JD Vance has cited the penal tariffs levied on India as one of the ways through which Russia was compelled into talks to end the war in Ukraine.
He was asked in an interview with NBC what pressures could get Russia to the table with Ukraine. Particularly now, when Vladimir Putin has held talks with US President Donald Trump in Alaska, and Trump then met the Ukraine President too. There are still no concrete plans for a trilateral meet for a final truce or end.
JD Vance replied: "The President (Donald Trump) has applied aggressive economic leverage; for example, the secondary tariffs on India, to try to make it harder for the Russians to get rich from their oil economy.”
India has questioned the logic of penal tariffs on its exports to the US — 25% for now, another 25% before the end of August — over its oil purchases from Russia since the war. It has said the US at one time encouraged it to buy energy at the lower prices.
The Modi government has also pivoted to reassert its long-held relationship with Russia, and sought to repair the fractious equation with China. PM Narendra Modi is set to travel to China soon for a group meeting and reports say he might have one-on-one talks with President Xi Jinping separately too.
India's foreign minister S Jaishankar recently underlined that India is the not the largest buyer of oil from Russia — it's second to China.
Vance was asked in the interview why China was not yet facing similar penal tariffs: “Well, they (India and China) are almost equal (in terms of buying Russian oil)… We already have 54% tariffs on the PRC (People's Republic of China). And we are constantly encouraging the Chinese to be better partners.”
Recently Trump extended by 90 days the deadline for higher tariff rates on China, pending negotiations for a trade deal.
On the alleged dichotomy, the US has recently said — speaking through different officials — that India's case was different from China's as it has been reselling the oil and “profiteering” whereas China was already a big buyer of Russian oil before the Ukraine war.
There is scope for the “leverage" on Russia to be "dialled down”, Vance said, meaning the tariffs on India, which are being seen as part of the leverage, may come down or go up, depending on the fate of Trump's mediation to end the war.
