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‘Tariffing India won’t stop Putin’: US Democrats panel slams Donald Trump’s trade move
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US has imposed secondary tariffs on India for buying Russian oil and warned they could rise if things worsen.
Democrats in the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, which oversees America’s foreign policy, said targeting India with tariffs has no bearing on stopping Russian President Vladimir Putin or ending the war in Ukraine.
“Tariffing India won’t stop Putin. If Trump really wanted to address Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, maybe punish Putin and give Ukraine the military aid it needs. Everything else is smoke and mirrors,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Alongside the statement, the panel shared an interview with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said if tariffs on India failed to curb Russia, more secondary tariffs could follow.
“We’ve put secondary tariffs on the Indians for buying Russian oil. And I could see if things don’t go well, then sanctions or secondary tariffs could go up,” Bessent said. He added that Trump would make it clear to Putin that “all options are on the table.”
“I’m not going to get ahead of the president, but the president is the best at creating leverage for himself, and he will make it clear to President Putin that all options are on the table,” Bessent said.
Describing sanctions as fluid and adjustable, Bessent added, “Sanctions can go up. They can be loosened. They can have a definitive life. They can go on indefinitely. You know, there’s this Russian shadow fleet of ships around the world that I think we could crack down on.”
Bessent said European leaders were reluctant to back US calls for secondary sanctions, saying that at a G7 meeting, they avoided committing to steep tariffs on China.
“The Europeans need to join us in these sanctions. The Europeans need to be willing to put on these secondary sanctions. I was at the G7 meeting in Canada with President Trump and the Europeans kept talking about Senator Graham’s bill to do the secondary tariffs,” said Bessent.
“And I looked at all the leaders around the table, and I said, is everyone at this table willing to put a 200 per cent secondary tariff on China? And you know what? Everybody wanted to see what kind of shoes they were wearing,” he added.
