Washington: US President Donald Trump has indicated that Washington may avoid imposing additional secondary tariffs on countries purchasing crude oil from Russia, a move that was feared could adversely affect India.
“Well, he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) has lost an oil customer,” Trump told Fox News on Friday aboard Air Force One while heading to Alaska for a summit with Putin. “To say that it is India, which was buying about 40 per cent of the oil. China, as you know, is doing a lot… And if I did what is called secondary sanctions, or secondary tariffs, it would be very devastating from their point of view. If I have to do that, I will. But maybe I won’t have to do that.”
The comments came just before Trump’s meeting with Putin in Alaska, which ended without an agreement on ending the Ukraine war.
Earlier on Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant had warned that if the summit did not yield progress, the possibility of secondary sanctions on India for purchasing Russian oil could increase.
