US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that Washington may raise secondary tariffs on India if President Donald Trump’s peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday do not yield progress.
He said the decision would depend on the outcome of the high-stakes meeting aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, reports BBC.
“We’ve put secondary tariffs on Indians for buying Russian oil. If things don’t go well, then sanctions or secondary tariffs could go up,” Bessent told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, Trump imposed a 25 per cent penalty on India in addition to existing 25 per cent tariffs for buying oil and weapons from Russia.
The US has been trying to mediate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and on Wednesday, Trump warned of “severe consequences” if Moscow did not agree to a peace deal.
Trump and Putin are set to meet in Anchorage on Friday to discuss how to end the war in Ukraine.
“President Trump is meeting with President Putin, and the Europeans are in the wings carping about how he should do it, what he should do. The Europeans need to join us in these sanctions. The Europeans need to be willing to put on these secondary sanctions,” Bessent said.
Delhi’s increased imports of cheap Russian crude since the Ukraine war have strained India-US relations and disrupted ongoing trade talks with Washington.
Russian oil made up 35 to 40 per cent of India’s oil imports in 2024 – up from 3 per cent in 2021.
Delhi has defended its purchases of Russian oil, arguing that as a major energy importer, it must buy the cheapest available crude to protect millions of poor Indians from rising costs.
Bessent’s comments come after he described India as “a bit recalcitrant” on trade negotiations in an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday.
Trump says his tariffs are part of his administration’s plan to boost the US economy and make global trade fairer.
He has repeatedly called India a tariff abuser and is keen to trim a $45bn (£33bn) trade deficit with Asia’s third-largest economy.
Trade negotiations between Delhi and Washington have been under way for several months, and are set to resume with US negotiators expected to arrive in India on 25 August.
But experts say India’s refusal to reduce duties on agriculture and dairy products has been a major sticking point in the talks.
If implemented, Trump’s new 50 per cent tariff rate would make India the most heavily taxed US trading partner in Asia, dealing a severe blow to key export-oriented sectors such as textiles and jewellery, and potentially slowing the country’s economic growth by up to half a percentage point.