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New Delhi: US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose "secondary sanctions" on India after slapping an additional 25 per cent tariff on the country. Trump on Wednesday imposed another 25 per cent tariff on India for Russian imports, raising the total duties on Indian exports to the US to 50 per cent. It will come into effect in 21 days.
On being asked why India was being singled out for purchasing crude oil from Russia when many countries are doing the same, the US President said that his administration is contemplating additional sanctions. "It's only been 8 hours. So let's see what happens. You are going to see a lot more. You're going to see so much secondary sanctions," he said during a media interaction.
Latest hike on India
The latest "penalty" on India for Russian oil purchases is 20 per cent more than the tariff imposed on China and 31 per cent more than on China. In fact, it is the highest tariff in Asia and would severely impact domestic export sectors such as leather, chemicals, footwear, gems and jewellery, textiles and shrimp. Only India faces the additional tariffs or penalty for Russian imports while other buyers such as China and Turkey, have so far escaped such measures.
India's sharp response
India reacted sharply to the US' move and called the additional tariff "unfair and unreasonable". The Ministry of External Affairs described the US' decision detrimental to their strategic partnership and mutual respect principles, and said that India is committed to protecting its national interests. New Delhi justified its Russian oil purchases and said that its imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India.
What India said earlier
Last week, Trump had announced that India will face 25 per cent tariff for buying Russian oil. The MEA had then pointed out that India was not the only country importing Russian goods and stated that when it began importing from Russia as the conflict with Ukraine started, the US "actively encouraged such imports".
