Donald Trump considers tariffs over China's Russian oil purchases

Qatar Tribune

3 days ago

Agencies
US Vice-President J.D. Vance said 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.
Asked for a response to Vance's comments, Beijing's embassy in Washington said China's trade with Russia falls within the scope of international law.
'The international community, including China, has conducted normal cooperation with Russia within the framework of international law,' said Liu Pengyu, the embassy's spokesman.
'This is reasonable and lawful without harm done to any third party. China has always been firmly opposed to illegal and unjustifiable unilateral sanctions and so-called long-arm jurisdiction by the US,' he added.
'Tariff wars have no winners. Coercion and pressuring will lead nowhere.' 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.
Trump's top economic officials concluded a third round of high-level talks with their Chinese counterparts in Stockholm, Sweden, nearly two weeks ago. Chinese officials said that both sides agreed to extend the pause on new tariff hikes, which is set to end on August 12, although the Trump administration has yet to formally confirm the extension.
With an upcoming meeting between Trump and Putin planned for later this week, in which the two are expected to try to come to an agreement that would halt Moscow's war against Ukraine, it is not clear how much more Trump is willing to use tariffs to curb the oil revenues that Moscow uses to fund the war.
Vance veered away from the subject of possible additional tariffs on Chinese goods, and shifted to his defence of tariffs as an effective 'negotiating tool'. Threatening to levy tariffs is 'an incredible negotiating tool, because when you tell countries that have access to American markets … [that] you can't get into America's market unless you pay a big fat tariff or open up your own markets – you've seen this happen with the European Union, you've seen this happen with countries in Asia, all over the world – they're opening up their markets to American goods', Vance said.
As the largest buyer of Russian oil, China has been an economic lifeline for Russia, triggering accusations from some Western countries that Beijing indirectly helps Moscow's fighting in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
China imported a record 108.5 million tonnes of Russian oil last year, Chinese customs data showed, representing nearly 20 per cent of its total imports of the commodity.