How Trump countered ‘no sanctions on Russia’ charge by citing tariffs on India

US chair Donald ruff on wed dismissed unfavorable judgment that his establishment had imposed “no direct sanctions” on Russia, arguing that tariffs on India would cost Moscow heavily, saying these measures would lead to hundreds of billions of dollars in losses for Russia.

Trump made the remarks while speaking to reporters during a meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki in the Oval Office.

“I have imposed secondary sanctions on India, the largest purchaser outside of China, they are almost equal because that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to Russia. You call that no action? I have not announced phase two or phase three yet,” he said this when a reporter asked why no sanctions had been imposed on Russia despite his frequent criticism of President Vladimir Putin.

He added, “If you say it’s no action, two weeks ago I did; and if India continues to buy oil from Russia, it has got big problem.”

On Tuesday, Trump had claimed that India had offered him a “no tariff” deal, while defending his move to impose a 50 per cent duty on Indian imports. In a phone interview with The Scott Jennings Radio Show, he described India as the “most tariffed nation” in the world and insisted his tariff strategy had forced New Delhi to make concessions.

“China kills us with tariffs, India kills us with tariffs, Brazil kills us with tariffs. I’ve understood tariffs better than they did; I understood tariffs better than any human beings in the world,” Trump said.

Reiterating his claims, he said, “India was the most highly tariffed nation in the world, and you know what, they’ve offered me no tariffs in India anymore. No tariffs. If I didn’t have tariffs, they would never make that offer. So you have to have tariffs.”

At a White House press conference on Tuesday, Trump also said, “So we were not doing much business with India, but they were doing business with us because we weren’t charging them — foolishly. So everything they made, they sent into the US — it poured into the US market — and we were not sending anything because they were charging us a 100 per cent tariff.”

When asked if he would consider cutting India’s 50 per cent tariff, Trump replied, “We get along with India very well. But you have to understand, for many years it was a one-sided relationship.”

He added, “It’s only changed now after I came along, and because of the power that we have. India was charging us tariffs that were about the highest in the world.”

On the Russia-Ukraine war, ahead of his scheduled talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, Trump told reporters: “I have no message to President Putin. He knows where I stand and he’ll make a decision one way or another. Whatever his decision is, we’ll either be happy about it or unhappy about it and if we’re unhappy about it, you’ll see things happen.”

Trump did not elaborate further, but he has previously spoken of the possibility of imposing additional sanctions on Russia.

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