You're going to see a lot more...You're going to see so much secondary sanctions, Trump told reporters during a press briefing
US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose secondary sanctions on countries buying oil from Russia, other than India. However, on Wednesday India was singled out in the executive order with additional tariffs. There are several other nations and blocs, including the European Union, which have bought oil from Russia during the wartime.
“It’s only been 8 hours. So, let’s see what happens. You’re going to see a lot more... You’re going to see so much secondary sanctions,” Trump said when asked why India was being singled out despite other nations, including China, also buying Russian oil.
Trump also said that Washington and Moscow have made a "lot of progress" in working towards ending the Ukraine War and speculated the punitive tariff he imposed on India for buying Russian oil may have something to do with it.
However, India is just one among the several nations that bought Russian oil since the war started. The war started in February 2022. The European Union, which imposed economic sanctions on Russia in June 2023, was buying oil from Russia.
China, the largest buyer, bought $158.7 billion valued Russian oil since January 2023, as per the data of Centre for Research of Energy and Clean Air. India bought $119.3 billion and Turkey $62.1 billion. Turkey has sent $1.8 billion refined products from Russian oil to G7+ countries in the first half of 2024. The US too has been buying oil products from Turkish refineries sourcing crude from Russia.
The European Union too imported $23.2 billion of Russian oil, Brazil $19.6 billion, Singapore $13 billion, Hungary $6.1 billion, South Korea $3.3 billion, Saudi Arabia $11 billion and Slovakia $10.2 billion. The European Union is the third largest exporter of Russian oil if the purchases from the beginning of the war are calculated. However, the European Union has one of the lowest US tariffs of 15 per cent. Turkey too has 15 per cent. While China has 30 per cent tariff, the US has not
UAE, Taiwan, Libya, Malaysia, and Egypt too have bought Russian oil since January 2023.
