Trump may hit China with punitive tariffs over purchases of Russian oil

US Vice-President J.D. Vance said on Sunday that President Donald Trump is “thinking” about slapping new tariffs on imports from China in response to the country’s purchases of Russian oil.

Vance was asked in a Fox News interview whether Trump would move against Beijing as he did against New Delhi last week, when the president announced a punitive 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports over the South Asian country’s continued purchase of Russian oil despite his repeated warnings.

“The president said he’s thinking about it, but he hasn’t made any firm decisions,” Vance said. “Obviously, the China issue’s a little bit more complicated because [in] our relationship with China, it just, it affects a lot of other things that have nothing to do with the Russian situation.

“So the president’s reviewing his options and, of course, is going to make that decision when he decides.”

Trump pledged during his election campaign to stop Russia’s war against Ukraine “on day one” of his presidency. More than six months in, he has tried putting more pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the conflict, with little to show.

The executive order that Trump is using to pile more tariffs on Indian goods – invoking his emergency presidential powers – does not explicitly name China, but grants the US government broad authority to monitor any country “directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil” and to recommend whether similar tariffs should be imposed.

South China Morning Post