US President Donald Trump has reportedly urged the European Union (EU) to align with Washington in imposing punitive tariffs of up to 100 percent on imports from India and China, in what he frames as a coordinated strategy to cut off Moscow’s vital oil revenues.

According to a report by The Financial Times, Trump made this appeal by joining a high-level meeting in Washington between senior US and EU officials, where sanctions and economic countermeasures against Russia were being deliberated.

The rationale behind Trump’s extraordinary request is that India and China, being among the largest purchasers of discounted Russian crude since the onset of the Ukraine war, are effectively sustaining the Kremlin’s capacity to finance its offensive operations.

In Trump’s view, applying crippling tariffs simultaneously in the US and Europe would deter Beijing and New Delhi from continuing this trade, as it would restrict alternative markets for Russian oil.

Trump’s latest offensive appears to reflect mounting frustration inside the White House over the difficulty of achieving what he had once described as an “immediate solution” to the war.

Since returning to office, Trump has sought to position himself as a dealmaker capable of brokering peace in Ukraine “within hours,” but diplomatic stalemate and intensifying hostilities have undermined those assertions.

Recent escalations, including Moscow’s largest airstrike barrage against Ukraine to date, have hardened Trump’s stance. Over the weekend, he threatened additional sanctions against Russia, coupled with warnings to any country continuing energy transactions with Moscow.

His administration has already penalised India with secondary sanctions tied to Russian oil purchases, but has refrained from directly targeting China, instead maintaining pressure through broader trade measures.

While tariffs on Indian goods have already been raised to 50 percent, Chinese exports continue to face 30 percent duties following an April hike that was only partially rolled back in May due to market turbulence.

However, Trump’s strategy has drawn attention for its contradictions and inconsistencies. Just days before raising the tariff threat, he insisted that negotiations between Washington and New Delhi were progressing smoothly, framing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “very good friend” and expressing optimism about resolving bilateral trade barriers.

On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump assured supporters that talks with India were on track and would yield a “successful conclusion” for both sides. This conciliatory tone came despite his simultaneous push for punitive measures that would directly target India’s oil-driven trade ties with Russia.

The apparent disconnect highlights the administration’s struggle to balance its geopolitical objectives—pressuring Russia and curtailing its energy earnings—with its broader ambition of cultivating stronger economic and strategic relations with India to counterbalance China’s rise.

China’s position in Trump’s tariff calculus is equally complex. While Washington has long clashed with Beijing on trade imbalances, technology transfers, and supply chain vulnerabilities, Trump has thus far avoided framing Chinese energy ties with Russia as a frontline sanctions issue.

Instead, he has preferred adjusting tariffs as a flexible instrument of leverage—deploying steep hikes as recently as April, before softening them under investor pressure. Yet his request for the EU to slap penalties on Chinese imports alongside Indian goods signals a potential shift toward directly confronting Beijing’s role in sustaining Russia’s oil revenues.

This escalation, if matched by the EU, could mark a pivotal turn in US–EU sanction coordination, with far-reaching implications for global trade flows and supply chains.

Strategically, Trump’s proposal underscores the administration’s reliance on economic coercion as its primary mechanism to constrain Russia, given the absence of diplomatic progress on negotiating a ceasefire. By targeting India and China, Washington is effectively attempting to sever Russia’s largest energy customers, which would intensify pressure on the Kremlin’s resource-dependent economy.

Yet this approach risks significant blowback, not only by straining US relations with two of Asia’s most influential powers but also by provoking European hesitancy to adopt measures that could hurt their own industries through retaliatory actions.

Already, debates in Brussels reveal scepticism over following Washington’s lead, with EU officials wary of being drawn into costly trade wars that might fail to achieve the desired shift in Russian policy.

Trump’s push for dramatic tariffs reflects both the urgency of undermining Putin’s war chest and the administration’s mounting impatience with what it views as insufficient European resolve.

By declaring his readiness to “mirror” any EU tariffs on India and China, Trump is signalling his willingness to escalate even further than current levies, risking an effective doubling or tripling of duties.

Such an approach represents a significant gamble: it could demonstrate Western unity in economic deterrence, but it equally risks fracturing already fragile trade and diplomatic partnerships the US has been cultivating in Asia.

The contradiction between Trump’s conciliatory overtures to India on trade negotiations and his simultaneous threat of punitive tariffs reveals the precarious balancing act his administration faces in reconciling immediate geopolitical objectives with long-term strategic alignments.

Based On NDTV Report