Trump Threatens India with More Tariffs, This Time Through European Union

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged the European Union to impose tariffs of up to 100% on Chinese and Indian goods as part of a strategy to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing a US official and an EU diplomat.

“The source of the money for the Russian war machine is oil purchases by China and India. If you do not get at the source of the money, there’s no way to stop the war machine,” the official reportedly said.

The development comes as the US has already slapped 50% tariffs on New Delhi in an effort to balance the trade deficit and discourage continued trade with Moscow.

According to the report, Trump made the request during a conference call with EU sanctions envoy David O’Sullivan and other European officials. The EU delegation is in Washington this week to discuss sanctions coordination. As per the EU diplomat, the US indicated it was prepared to impose similar tariffs if the bloc joined in. “They are basically saying: We’ll do this, but you need to do it with us,” the diplomat observed.

The Washington discussions were led by O’Sullivan, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, State Department officials, and the US Trade Representative’s office also participating. Ukraine’s Prime Minister joined the session, while Trump made his intervention remotely, the official revealed.

Another official noted that a bill with 85 Senate co-sponsors allows secondary tariffs on countries trading with Russia but questioned whether the European Parliament has the political will to follow through.

The report comes just days after Trump claimed the US had lost India and Russia to “deepest, darkest China.” Hours later, in a Truth Social post, he called PM Modi a “very good friend” and stressed that talks were ongoing between the two nations to resolve trade barriers.