President Donald Trump has urged U.S. partner countries in the G7 group to impose tariffs on China and India in punishment for their continued energy trade with Russia, the Financial Times has reported, noting it is Trump’s belief that such a course of action would speed up the end of the Ukraine war.
The report said the finance minister of the G7 will discuss tariffs in a video call today, after the European Union demonstrated reluctance to impose tariffs on the two Asian economies, arguing that sanctions would be more effective and less risky.
“Earlier this week, we made it clear to our EU allies that if they are serious about ending the war in their own backyard, they need to join us and impose meaningful tariffs that will be rescinded the day the war ends,” a Treasury Department spokesperson told the Financial Times.
The EU appears to be of the belief that sanctions would do more than tariffs, which Brussels considers risky, so it would only consider them after “lengthy investigations designed to provide a solid legal basis,” according to an unnamed EU official who spoke to Reuters earlier this week.
President Trump reportedly called on the European Union to impose 100% tariffs on China and India if it wanted the United States to step up its own sanction pressure on Russia, as Brussels discusses its 19th package of sanctions against Moscow.
The EU is also thinking of moving the deadline for its phaseout of Russian energy imports from 2028 to 2027, according to energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen. “We need, as fast as possible, to make sure that we get rid of the dependency that we still have . . . on Russian energy,” Jorgensen said after a meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright regarding the replacement of Russian with American liquefied natural gas.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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