1w ago

Trump imposes 50% tariff on India as punishment for buying Russian oil

www.theguardian.com Trump imposes 50% tariff on India as punishment for buying Russian oil

US president has argued New Delhi indirectly helping fund Ukraine war as experts say move is ‘own goal’ against ally

Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on most US imports from India, making good on a threat to punish one of the world’s largest economies over its purchases of discounted Russian oil.

The tariffs, which came into effect just after midnight on Wednesday in Washington, risk inflicting significant damage on the Indian economy and further disrupting global supply chains.

US tariffs of 25% on Indian goods went into force earlier this month, but Trump announced plans to double the rate, citing New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, which the White House has argued is indirectly funding Russia’s war against Ukraine.

World News @lemmy.ml

Trump imposes 50% tariff on India as punishment for buying Russian oil

www.theguardian.com /us-news/2025/aug/27/trump-tariff-india-russian-oil-purchase

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9 comments

"India's doing some bad stuff. Terribly bad. It's Tremendously bad. As Americans, you all need to pay me extra for it"

Hey, a real reason but still a dumb vehicle of consequence. This is still too reasonable for Trump, is he dying or something (lord willing)
- I read it as "Trump imposes 50% tariff on someone arbitrary for any reason he can come up with so he can look big and mean."
- This sounds almost unreal, doesn't it?

Given the gifts Trump has handed to Russia so far, he's likely using Russian oil as a mere justification to impose more tariffs on India. Tariffs that are unlikely to stop India from using Russian oil. Not an actual attempt to hurt Russia.

S Jaishankar, the external affairs minister, called Washington’s demand that New Delhi stop buying Russian crude “unjustified and unreasonable” and accused the west of hypocrisy, noting that Europe trades far more with Russia. To avoid the extra US tariff, India would have to replace about 42% of its oil imports.
The 42% figure needs some contextualisation. I believe the figure was significantly less (single digits?) before the beginning of the full scale invasion.

And the deliveries which were meant for India are now going to China.

How much of all this tariff stuff is performative? With all the exclusions, that top line number will apply to very few actual goods. I don't think anyone is naive enough to believe Trump has anything against Russian interests.

OK this is good! Okay! That's a good tariff! It was a monkey wasn't it? The monkey wrote the entire William Shakespeare work set and then.... What the heck, why not an international tariff?

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