Shippingtelegraph.com: Trump hits India with tariff, penalty for buying Russian energy amid Russian secondary sanctions threat

by Shipping Telegraph

US President Donald Trump unexpectedly shortened his deadline for hitting Russia with the most severe sanctions and tariffs.

Speaking alongside British prime minister Keir Starmer in Scotland on Monday, Trump said he was giving Moscow only 10 to 12 days to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine before he would impose the so-called secondary sanctions and tariffs.

With rising frustrations, Trump’s latest threat – and shortened timeline for Putin to comply – highlights his growing frustration with the Russian leader. “I’m not so interested in talking any more,” Trump said on Monday.

The US president this week brought forward the deadline for progress in his bid to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and said he was “very disappointed” in the Kremlin’s failure to join Kyiv in accepting his call for a full ceasefire.

“I haven’t had any response,” Trump said about the reaction from Moscow to his new deadline.

After U.S. president Donald Trump announced that he was moving up the deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine from 50 days to as few as 10, India became one of the nations to experience a 25% tariff plus an unexpected “penalty” from Trump.

The US president announced that India would be facing a 25% tariff on its imports to the United States, with an additional penalty starting on August 1st.

Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, he said this was a response to what he described as India’s unfair trade terms and because “they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of energy along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to stop the killing in Ukraine.”

“Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the world, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers of any country,” Trump wrote.

He continued, “India will therefore be paying a tariff of 25%, plus a penalty for the above, starting on August first.”

Earlier this month, Trump escalated his stance against Russia by threatening to impose severe tariffs if Moscow fails to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine within the next 50 days.

Donald Trump told the reporters during a meeting with the secretary general of NATO on July 14 that he is “very unhappy with Russia”, threatening to slap Russia with 100% “secondary” tariffs unless it secured a peace deal with Ukraine within 50 days.

In recent years, India and China have become Russia’s largest buyers of energy, while Russia has essentially lost its European market.

“US energy will be much more expensive than Russian,” Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said at the 11th Terra Scientia National Educational Youth Forum, Solnechnogorsk on July 28, adding that this decision packs a serious blow especially in terms of energy prices and capital flight affecting European industry and agriculture.

“But figures like Ursula von der Leyen are flaunting their decision to follow this course,” the foreign minister highlighted. “They admit they’ll have to spend more, and that they’ll probably have fewer resources to address social issues, but claim they must defeat Russia.”

Last week, Donald Trump said the EU will invest $600 billion in the U.S., buy $750 billion of U.S. energy, and increase its purchases of US military equipment.

That investment in American liquified natural gas, oil and nuclear fuels would, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said, help reduce European reliance on Russian power sources.