06, August 2025: Donald Trump, the President of the United States, has made a statement to clarify his previous threats to raise tariffs on countries who keep trading with Russia. On Tuesday, Trump said he never gave a specific number for the tariffs he would put on countries who buy Russian energy, including India and China. This was a change from his prior threat of a “100% tariff.”
Just days after he put a 25% tax on goods coming from India and warned more punishments, he said this. “I never said a percentage,” Trump said at a news conference, “but we’ll be doing a lot of that.” We’ll see what occurs in the next short while. He also talked about a meeting with Russian officials that was set to happen, following which a decision would be made about secondary measures.
The news comes at a time when tensions are rising between the US and India because India is still trading energy and defense goods with Russia. The Indian government has strongly rejected Trump’s threats, calling them “unjustified and unreasonable.” India’s Ministry of External Affairs justified its energy strategy by saying that it started buying energy from Russia since traditional supplies were being sent to Europe instead of India after the Russia-Ukraine war. The Ministry also said that the US and EU are being hypocritical because they still trade with Russia, but in other goods.
India and Russia have both said they want to deepen their defense cooperation, even though there are fears of tariffs. Indian Ambassador Vinay Kumar and Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Colonel-General Alexander Fomin met recently and both sides said they wanted to improve their “privileged strategic partnership” even more.
There are still talks going on between the US and India about a trade deal, and a new round of talks is set for the end of August. The issue of tariffs and India’s commerce with Russia is still a big problem.