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US president Donald Trump has declared Russia an ‘extraordinary threat’ to the US, as Russian despot Vladimir Putin is set to ignore his deadline for ending the invasion of Ukraine.
Trump gave Putin until Friday to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine, threatening to place enormous tariffs on Russia’s main trading partners.
Earlier today, just hours after Trump’s top envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin, the US president signed an executive order that brought India‘s tariff rate to 50% after it bought Russian oil.
Trump wrote in the executive order following Witkoff’s meeting with Putin: ‘I have received additional information from various senior officials on, among other things, the actions of the government of the Russian Federation with respect to the situation in Ukraine.’
The Republican president said the new information showed Moscow presented ‘an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.’
He added: ‘I determine that it is necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem duty on imports of articles of India, which is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.’
India is one of the top buyers of Russian crude oil, a key export that fuels Putin’s war machine in Ukraine. The US said it is hoping to deter the nation, and others, from doing business with Russia as a consequence for ‘its ongoing aggressions.’
Following Trump’s executive order, India now has one of the highest tariff rates on goods exported to the US.
India was furious with Trump’s latest tariff measure, with its foreign ministry describing the measure as ‘unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.’
‘It is therefore extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest’, the ministry said.
It added: ‘India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests.’
The tariffs are set to go into effect 21 days after the signing of the order, meaning that both India and Russia might have time to negotiate with the administration on the import taxes.
Trump’s moves could scramble the economic trajectory of India, which until recently was seen as an alternative to China by American companies looking to relocate their manufacturing.
Ajay Srivastava, a former Indian trade official, said the latest tariff places the country among the most heavily taxed U.S. trading partners and far above rivals such as China, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
‘The tariffs are expected to make Indian goods far costlier with the potential to cut exports by around 40%-50% to the US,’ he said.
Srivastava said Trump’s decision was ‘hypocritical’ because China bought more Russian oil than India did last year.
‘Washington avoids targeting Beijing because of China’s leverage over critical minerals which are vital for U.S. defense and technology,’ he said.
It comes as Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, said he will be making announcements later today on whether potential sanctions against Russia would still proceed this week.
Rubio said he has spoken to Witkoff, who is on his way back from a trip to Russia, and would have more discussions throughout the day.
‘We’ll have more to say about that later on today,’ Rubio said when asked if sanctions on Russia would go into effect later this week, adding that there would hopefully be some announcements soon.
‘Maybe positive, maybe not.’
More to follow.
