President Vladimir Putin’s successful diplomatic pivot to the East is the direct trigger for President Donald Trump’s latest and most severe tariff threat. Following a high-profile summit where Putin strengthened his alliances with China’s Xi Jinping and India’s Narendra Modi, the US has responded by asking the EU to join a plan to impose 100% duties on both nations.
The summit in China was a clear demonstration of the economic and political support network that has helped Russia withstand Western sanctions over its war in Ukraine. This has deeply frustrated the Trump administration, which sees these partnerships as the primary obstacle to forcing Putin to the negotiating table.
In response, Trump has proposed a powerful economic countermeasure. The plan, presented to EU officials in Washington, is to make it economically ruinous for India and China to continue their robust trade with Russia. A White House official confirmed the US is ready to act but is insisting on a united front with Europe.
The US has already shown its displeasure with Putin’s pivot, having recently hit India with 50% tariffs for its Russian oil purchases. This new proposal would be a massive escalation of that policy, but its implementation is clouded by a pending Supreme Court decision on the legality of Trump’s tariff powers.