President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday raising the tariff on goods imported to the U.S. from India to 50% as punishment for India’s continued purchase of Russian oil.
India and the U.S. have been trying to negotiate a trade deal for months, but have been unable to agree on terms, and India faces a 25% tariff starting tomorrow. The additional, punitive 25% tariff on Indian imports is scheduled to go into effect in 21 days.
“I find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil,” Trump said in the executive order. “Accordingly, and as consistent with applicable law, articles of India imported into the customs territory of the United States shall be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25 percent.”
Earlier this week, Trump accused India of buying “massive amounts” of Russian oil and reselling it, helping to prop up the Russian economy and war effort. “They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
Russia produced roughly 12% of the world’s crude oil supply last year, and oil and gas sales account for nearly a third of the country’s government revenues.
A spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs called Trump’s tariffs “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,” and noted that other countries are also purchasing Russian energy “in their own national interest.”
Trump may punish some of those other nations, as well. In his executive order, he directed various members of his administration to determine if other countries are importing Russian oil and to advise “whether and to what extent I should take action as to that country, including whether I should impose an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25 percent on imports of articles of that country.”
The largest importer of oil from Russia is currently China, followed by India and then Turkey. Ajay Srivastava, a former trade official in India, told The New York Times that Trump’s new punitive tariff would likely “push India to reconsider its strategic alignment, deepening ties with Russia, China, and many other countries.”