FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump talks to the press on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, U.S., September 7, 2025.
Annabelle Gordon | Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump has requested the European Union to hit China and India with tariffs of up to 100% over the international locations’ Russia oil purchases, in a transfer geared toward turning up the warmth on Moscow to finish the battle in Ukraine.
The proposal, first reported by the Financial Times, was confirmed to CNBC’s Megan Cassella by two sources acquainted with the matter.
Trump made the request when he was referred to as into a gathering with senior U.S. and EU officers in Washington, the Financial Times reported Tuesday, citing folks acquainted with the dialogue. Washington was additionally ready to “mirror” any tariffs imposed by Europe on the 2 international locations, the report stated.
The White House didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for feedback.
The U.S. has imposed a punitive 25% tariff on imports from India over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, taking the full duties to as excessive as 50%. India has stated the tariffs are “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,” whereas calling out the U.S. and the EU’s commerce with Russia.
The EU’s bilateral commerce with Russia stood at 67.5 billion euros ($78.1 billion) in 2024, whereas its companies commerce in 2023 was at 17.2 billion euros, in accordance to European Commission data.
Data from the Indian embassy in Moscow confirmed bilateral commerce between New India and Russia reached a file $68.7 billion for the 12 months ended March 2025, practically 5.8 occasions increased than the pre-pandemic commerce of $10.1 billion.
China, the biggest purchaser of Russian oil, has up to now been spared from the “secondary” tariffs, after securing a truce with Washington to scale back the brand new levies on its merchandise to 30%.
Trump’s proposal comes as his assembly with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska final month has yielded little progress towards securing a ceasefire in Ukraine. After the assembly, Putin instructed reporters in a joint press convention with Trump that the “root causes” of the battle wanted to be addressed for a sustainable peace.
“There were many, many points that we agreed on … I would say a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite got there, but we’ve made some headway,” Trump said after Putin’s remarks final month, with out elaborating.
While Washington’s quest to dealer a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine has come to naught, Putin seems to have cemented his ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi throughout their assembly on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Beijing final week.
In a submit on X Tuesday night time stateside, Trump stated the U.S. and India have resumed commerce negotiations to handle commerce obstacles. Calling Modi a “very good friend,” the president stated he was “certain that there will be no difficulty in coming to a successful conclusion.”
Washington’s negotiations with China seem to be struggling to attain a breakthrough, with a late-August go to to Washington by prime Chinese commerce negotiator Li Chenggang yielding little progress.