FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump talks to the press on the South Garden of the White Home, in Washington, U.S., September 7, 2025.
Annabelle Gordon | Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump has requested the European Union to hit China and India with tariffs of as much as 100% over the nations’ Russia oil purchases, in a transfer aimed toward turning up the warmth on Moscow to finish the conflict in Ukraine.
The proposal, first reported by the Monetary Instances, was confirmed to CNBC’s Megan Cassella by two sources conversant in the matter.
Trump made the request when he was referred to as into a gathering with senior U.S. and EU officers in Washington, the Monetary Instances reported Tuesday, citing individuals conversant in the dialogue. Washington was additionally ready to “mirror” any tariffs imposed by Europe on the 2 nations, the report stated.
The U.S. has imposed a punitive 25% tariff on imports from India over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, taking the full duties to as excessive as 50%. India has stated the tariffs are “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,” whereas calling out the U.S. and the EU’s commerce with Russia.
The EU’s bilateral commerce with Russia stood at 67.5 billion euros ($78.1 billion) in 2024, whereas its companies commerce in 2023 was at 17.2 billion euros, in keeping with European Fee knowledge.
Information from the Indian embassy in Moscow confirmed bilateral commerce between New India and Russia reached a file $68.7 billion for the 12 months ended March 2025, almost 5.8 occasions larger than the pre-pandemic commerce of $10.1 billion.
China, the largest purchaser of Russian oil, has to this point been spared from the “secondary” tariffs, after securing a truce with Washington to scale back the brand new levies on its merchandise to 30%.
Trump’s proposal comes as his deadline for Putin to carry a gathering with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy handed with none signal that the Russian chief – whom Trump met final month in Alaska — was eager about participating in peace talks.
Whereas Washington’s quest to dealer a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine has come to naught, Putin seems to have cemented his ties with Chinese language President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi throughout their assembly on the Shanghai Cooperation Group in Beijing final week.
In a submit on X Tuesday evening stateside, Trump stated the U.S. and India have resumed commerce negotiations to handle commerce obstacles. Calling Modi a “excellent good friend,” the president stated he was “sure that there will likely be no issue in coming to a profitable conclusion.”
Washington’s negotiations with China seem like struggling to achieve a breakthrough, with a late-August go to to Washington by high Chinese language commerce negotiator Li Chenggang yielding little progress.
