Washington/New York, Aug 6 (IANS) Hours after his 24-hour deadline passed, US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday a punitive 25 per cent tariff on India for buying Russian oil, which would raise the total tariffs on India to 50 per cent.

He is singling out India for the additional tariff, even though China, Turkey, and other countries also buy Russian oil.

India said it was extremely “extremely unfortunate” that the US was imposing “additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest”.

Earlier, the External Affairs Ministry had pointed out that the US and the European Union were doing business worth tens of billions of dollars with Russia.

Its statement on Wednesday said: “India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests.”

India is caught in the crossfire between Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as Trump is trying to pressure Russia economically through threats against India, which buys 70 per cent of its oil exports, aiming to cut its revenues.

This makes India a virtual hostage in Trump’s quest to force Russia to agree to a ceasefire in its war with Ukraine.

Trump’s executive order said the additional tariffs would hit India in 21 days, but added that if New Delhi took steps to stop buying Russian oil, or if Moscow agreed to a ceasefire with Ukraine, he may modify the order.

But the order also warned that the US would take more punitive action if Russia or India retaliated.

In his generalised tariff war, Trump said last week he was imposing a 25 per cent tariff on India starting Thursday.

Trump earlier accused India of re-exporting products made from Russian oil at a high price and profiting from the purchases.

He alleged that India was fueling Russia’s war machine by pumping cash into Moscow through the oil purchases.

“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits. They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine,” he said earlier on Truth Social.

But India has made clear that “our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India”.

The imposition of the Russian oil tariff came as Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was holding meetings with Russia’s President Putin and other officials in Moscow.

On Tuesday morning, Trump said that additional tariffs would be imposed on India in 24 hours, but the executive order came a couple of hours after the deadline passed.

Later in the afternoon, he said that he would wait to see the developments in the Witkoff-Putin meeting before imposing the sanctions.

Witkoff’s meeting with Putin lasted three hours, and Kremlin spokesperson Yuri Ushakov said the talks were a “rather useful and constructive conversation”.

Putin’s economic cooperation envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who participated in the talks, posted on X: “Dialogue continues and is critical for global security and peace.”

Striking an optimistic note, he said to his followers on X: “Thank you all for your kind wishes for a successful visit of @SteveWitkoff to Moscow. Dialogue will prevail.”

The 21-day window for the additional tariffs to kick in, gives an opening for an agreement on a ceasefire – or India stopping the oil purchases.

In not sanctioning China, Trump is trying to protect his ongoing trade negotiations with it.

Niki Haley, the former cabinet-level United Nations permanent representative who ran against Trump for the Republican Presidential nomination, criticised the double standard in singling out India, which would “burn” ties with an ally.

While “India should not be buying oil from Russia”, she said, “China, an adversary and the number one buyer of Russian and Iranian oil, got a 90-day tariff pause”.

–IANS

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