'India, the Maharaja of tariffs': Trump's trade advisor reveals why China is not hit with tariffs over Russian oil

US President Donald Trump's Trade Advisor Peter Navarro on Thursday (August 7) talked about why the US did not impose tariffs on Russian oil on China, as it slapped India with 50 per cent tariffs, while also threatening to impose secondary tariffs.

The White House official and Trump trade advisor said that the US already has over 50 per cent tariffs on China, so they don't want to be at a point where it hurts the US only.

"As the boss says, let's see what happens. Keep in mind that we have over 50 per cent tariffs on China already. We have over 50 per cent tariffs on China, so we don't want to get to a point where we actually hurt ourselves. And I think I've given a really good answer to that," Navarro said.

This comes as Trump earlier imposed 25 per cent tariffs on India, which he further increased last night, making it 50 per cent. The US president also threatened to impose secondary tariffs.

Calling India "the maharaja of tariffs", Navarro said that it is important to understand that the rationale for the Indian tariffs is very different from the reciprocal tariffs. "This was a pure national security issue associated with India's abject refusal to stop buying Russian oil," he said.

The video of Navarro's remarks went viral on social media hours after Trump imposed 25 per cent additional tariffs on India on Wednesday. Trump's trade advisor further criticised India for importing Russian oil, saying that India uses American dollars to pay Russia for energy and Russia then uses that money to finance its military to kill Ukrainians.

"And then American taxpayers are called upon to pay for the weapons that have to defend Ukraine against Russian armaments paid for by American dollars that came from India," he added.

China and the US reached a trade deal in May, slashing reciprocal tariffs for 90 days. Notably, the period will end on August 12.