The Trump administration plans to urge Group of Seven (G7) nations to impose sanctions on China and India over their purchase of Russian oil, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Sept. 11.
The U.S. will push for the tariffs at a virtual meeting of the G7 finance ministers on Sept. 12, four sources familiar with the plan told FT.
Sources told FT that the proposed tariffs plan would see tariffs be at a rate between 50% and 100%.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on Western allies, including the United States, to impose additional secondary sanctions on countries that purchase Russian oil as a means to cut funding to Russia’s war machine and force it to the negotiating table.
Last month, the U.S. raised tariffs on Indian imports to 50% in response to India’s continued purchases of Russian oil — straining relations between the two countries.
While the U.S. has not directly targeted China over its Russian oil purchases, Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese imports in April, only to reduce them weeks later after a severe market reaction.
The news comes just a few days after Trump on Sept. 9 called on the European Union to impose tariffs of up to 100% on China and India as part of a coordinated effort to increase pressure on Russia.
Frustration within the White House over stalled peace efforts and Russia’s intensified aerial assault on Ukraine helped drive the latest U.S. proposal.
“The president came on this morning and his view is that the obvious approach here is, let’s all put on dramatic tariffs and keep the tariffs on until the Chinese agree to stop buying the oil. There really aren’t many other places that oil can go,” the first official said regarding the proposal for the EU.
The proposal follows a summit last week in which Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed their ties.
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