The US Treasury Secretary has warned that the Trump administration could impose additional secondary tariffs on India, depending on the outcome of a meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin later this week.
Speaking to Bloomberg TV on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said further secondary sanctions could be imposed if the talks in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday fail to produce positive results.
"We've put secondary tariffs on Indians for buying Russian oil. And I could see, if things don't go well, then sanctions or secondary tariffs could go up," Bessent told Bloomberg.
Trump recently slapped a 25 per cent penalty on Indian imports and an additional 25 per cent tariff on purchases of oil and weapons from Russia, bringing total tariffs to 50 per cent. The US administration has accused Inida of indirectly funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
India has strongly opposed the move, calling the tariffs "unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable" and defending its oil imports as essential for national energy security.
In a separate interview with Fox News, Bessent described India as “a bit recalcitrant” in trade negotiations. Talks between the two countries hit a roadblock earlier this month, with Trump announcing their suspension over India’s Russian trade and other undisclosed issues.
When asked about China, the main buyer of Russian crude, Bessent said he is “not going to get ahead of the President, but the President is the best at creating leverage for himself, and he will make it clear to President Putin that all options are on the table.”
On whether sanctions can go up or loosened, Bessent said, “Sanctions can go up, they can be loosened. They can have a definitive life. They can go on indefinitely. You know, there's this Russian shadow fleet of ships around the world that I think we could crack down on.”
He added that even as Trump is meeting with Putin, the Europeans “need to join us” and need to be willing to “put on these secondary sanctions.”
Bessent recalled that at the G7 meeting in Canada this year, when he asked the leaders at the table whether they were willing to put a 200 per cent secondary tariff on China. "And you know what, everybody wanted to see what kind of shoes they were wearing."
He added that Trump is committed to ending the bloodshed in the Ukraine war. “It's put up or shut up time. The President is creating his own leverage. We need the Europeans to come in and help create more leverage,” Bessent said.
Negotiations could resume when US officials visit India on August 25, just two days before the 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods is set to take effect. However, experts believe India will hold firm on keeping its agriculture and dairy markets protected, a longstanding sticking point in bilateral trade talks.
Trump and Putin are scheduled to meet in Alaska to discuss ways to end the Ukraine war, now in its fourth year. The US President has described the summit as a “feel-out meeting” to test the Russian leader’s willingness to pursue a ceasefire, warning of “severe consequences” if Moscow does not agree to a peace deal.
Trump has floated the idea of “some swapping of territories” as part of an agreement, a proposal Ukraine has firmly rejected, citing constitutional limits on ceding land. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted there will be no peace deal without Kyiv’s participation and reiterated that Ukraine will not surrender any territory.
European officials have also voiced concern that the one-on-one meeting, which excludes Ukraine, could result in an outcome that favours Russian objectives.