From the end of August, the United States will levy a total of 50 percent input tax on goods from India. The White House published Wednesday a decree From President Donald Trump in which he announces an extra levy of 25 percent on top of previous rates, as a retribution for the Indian import of Russian oil.
The announcement comes shortly after a meeting in Moscow, this Wednesday between the American envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump had set Putin an ultimatum: at the latest on Friday he should agree to a ceasefire in the war with Ukraine. In the absence of this, he would impose extra taxes on India and China. In contrast to most Western countries, they are still taking Russian oil and gas, an important source of income for the Kremlin.
For India – the world’s third importer of crude oil – Russia is even The most important supplier. That share has risen sharply after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to India, this is because oil and gas from other sources when it went to Europe, that Boycot Boycot boycotts. Moreover, Russian oil has become a lot cheaper due to the sanctions.
China
China, among others, also buys a lot of Russian oil and gas, and Trump also threatened that country with substantial levies. He has not yet announced it on Wednesday.
Possibly that has to do with the precarious conversations between the US and China about their trade relationship. Earlier this year, the US imposed high import duties China because of the trade deficit of the Americans with China. Beijing responded with equally high tax. In a series of conversations in Geneva and London, both countries came to a provisional agreement in June, in which those taxes were suspended.
This was partly after China put the Americans under pressure with output restrictions on rare earth metals. China has almost a monopoly on many of those raw materials, which are indispensable in, among other things, the car, aviation and defense industry.
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Stiff Negotiations
But although Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first world leaders to fly to Washington after Trumps inauguration in January for a meeting with the president, the negotiations between India and the US about import duties are extremely rough. India hoped, just like Japan, South Korea and the European Union, among others, to end up with a levy of around 15 percent, but on Friday Trump already announced that the rate went to 25 percent.
On Monday, Trump left on his platform Truth Social Although knowing that a penalty tax would be added: “They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are killed by the Russian war machine.” The US imported in 2024 for just under 80 billion euros in goods from India, including electronics and medicines.
The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls Trumps new levy in an initial reaction “unfair, unjust and unreasonable.” The import of Russian oil is necessary to “guarantee the energy security of 1.4 billion Indians,” said the explanation. India will take ‘all necessary actions’ to protect its national interests.