US sanctions on Russia could boomerang
US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose sanctions on Russia that could include 100% tariffs and secondary sanctions targeting the country's trade partners, particularly in the oil sector, unless it makes progress towards a peace deal with Ukraine.
To discuss a potential settlement, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Moscow on Wednesday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
If Trump decides to impose new sanctions, the economic impact could fall heavily on the US, analysts told CNN.
'The punishment for those countries that continue to take big volumes of Russian energy… would also hurt the United States' economy in a material way,' Clayton Seigle, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said.
Seigle told CNN that the proposed tariffs 'would lead to more inflation' in the US and burden American businesses with higher import costs. The tariffs would mainly apply to imports from India and China, which are among the top buyers of Russian oil – and also two of America's largest trading partners.
'Russia is too big to fail,' analyst Giovanni Staunovo told the network. 'Russia exports seven million barrels per day of crude and refined products. These are massive amounts that you cannot so easily replace.'
There is also ambiguity regarding the future of the potential sanctions. CNN noted that earlier this year, Trump imposed high tariffs on Chinese goods only to reduce them later when a trade deal was reached.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov remarked that Russia is accustomed to Western sanctions, which were first introduced in 2014. Trump echoed these comments, acknowledging that he does not know whether the sanctions will 'bother' Putin.
A New York Post source has said there are no guarantees Trump will move forward with the sanctions. 'The administration is pushing hard for a deal. That's always the president's preferred outcome,' the source said.
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