Trump threatens Putin over ceasefire; Russia claims it has taken control of a Donetsk village. What we know on day 1,132
China and India could be affected if Donald Trump introduces tariffs of 25-50% against countries buying Russian oil, analysts and officials have suggested. Dan Sabbagh reports that the US president told NBC he would impose such measures within a month “if a deal isn’t made, and if I think it was Russia’s fault”, as he vented frustration at Vladimir Putin’s delaying tactics and attempts to discredit Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president.
Some countries, including China and India, are not participating in anti-war sanctions against Russian oil. Secondary sanctions or tariffs imposed directly on them by the US could further limit Putin’s access to oil revenue to fund the war. While not joining the international sanctions against Russia, China has been wary about breaching them in case it attracts secondary penalties. Some Chinese banks, for example, have curtailed dealings with Russian companies for fear of being barred from the international banking system.
UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said that targeting buyers – as Trump has done with Venezuela’s oil – could affect China and India. “We need to see, however, what will be announced over the coming days.” India has surpassed China to become the biggest buyer of seaborne Russian crude oil, which comprised about 35% of India’s total crude imports in 2024. There have been concerns since the beginning of the war about India being a “back door” for Russian oil exports.
William Reinsch, a former senior US commerce department official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the haphazard way Trump was announcing and threatening tariffs left questions unanswered, including how US officials could trace and prove which countries were buying Russian oil.
Trump also claimed on Sunday that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was “trying to back out of the rare earth deal and if he does that he’s got some problems, big, big problems”. The White House is demanding the first cut of all Ukraine’s mineral ...
