(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump has urged the European Union to impose 100% tariffs on China and India as a strategy to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Financial Times reported
Trump Calls for EU to Impose 100% Tariffs on China and India
Trump's Tariff Proposal and Its Implications
By Gram Slattery and Andrew Gray
Background on U.S.-EU Relations
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump urged EU officials on Tuesday to hit China with tariffs of up to 100% as part of a strategy to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a U.S. official and an EU diplomat.
Impact on Russia's Economy
Trump also encouraged the European Union to slap India with similarly expansive tariffs, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Responses from EU Officials
China and India are major purchasers of Russian oil and, as such, they play a vital role in keeping Russia's economy afloat as it continues to pursue its expanded invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022.
Trump made the request, which was conveyed via conference call, to EU sanctions envoy David O'Sullivan and other EU officials. The EU delegation is currently in Washington to discuss sanctions coordination.
The EU diplomat said the U.S. had indicated it was willing to impose similar tariffs if the European Union heeded the U.S. request.
"They are basically saying: We'll do this but you need to do it with us," the diplomat said.
The U.S. request, if heeded, would result in a change of strategy for the EU, which has preferred to isolate Russia with sanctions rather than tariffs.
Trump, whose request was first reported by the Financial Times, has frequently threatened to impose tariffs on India and China as punishment for their purchases of Russian crude.
While Trump did hike tariffs on India over the summer by 25 percentage points in part due to its economic relationship with the Kremlin, Trump has yet to pull the trigger on the more punishing options he has floated.
At times, he has complained that Europe itself has not fully decoupled from Russia, which supplied about 19% of EU gas imports last year although the bloc says it is committed to fully ending its dependency on Russian energy.
Later on Tuesday, Trump suggested that the U.S. could in fact boost trade with India, writing in an evening social media post that the U.S. and India are working to address trade barriers between the nations. He added that he was looking forward to speaking with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery in Washington and Andrew Gray in Brussels; Editing by Stephen Coates)
