Trump imposes additional 25% tariff on India over continued purchase of Russian oil

In an escalation in the trade tensions between the United States and India, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Aug 6) signed an executive order imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports into the US. According to the executive order, the move has been taken against India for directly or indirectly importing oil from Russia. The tariffs are set to take effect in three weeks and will be added on top of the 25 per cent levies earlier announced by Trump.

“I find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil,” the order reads. “Accordingly, and as consistent with applicable law, articles of India imported into the customs territory of the United States shall be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25 percent.”

The order threatened potential penalties on other countries deemed to be “directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.”

The US president further threatened in the order, “Should a foreign country retaliate against the United States in response to this action, I may modify this order to ensure the efficacy of the actions herein ordered.”

It further warned Russia against taking any step, “Should the Government of the Russian Federation or a foreign country impacted by this order take significant steps to address the national emergency described in section 1 of this order and align sufficiently with the United States on national security, foreign policy, and economic matters, I may further modify this order.”

Earlier on Monday (Aug 4), the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) called the US tariffs “unjustified and unreasonable”, adding that “India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.”

Meanwhile, the Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is in Moscow to hold meetings with senior Russian officials on Thursday (Aug 7) over India-Russia defence and security cooperation, oil sanctions, and an upcoming Modi-Putin summit.