US Senators urge crushing sanctions on India, China, Brazil over Russia ties: Hit them with 500% tariffs

Mint

11 hours ago

In a dramatic escalation of Washington's rhetoric, senior US Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal have called for imposing crippling tariffs — as high as 500 per cent — on countries including India, China, and Brazil if they continue business with Russia amid its ongoing war in Ukraine.
The bipartisan push comes as President Donald Trump announced plans for 100 per cent "secondary tariffs" on Moscow should President Vladimir Putin fail to negotiate peace within 50 days.
"We'll continue to push for Senator Graham & my Russia Sanctions bill with even tougher penalties to deter India, China, Brazil & others from fuelling Putin's war machine. Congressional action sends a powerful message of support," Senator Richard Blumenthal posted on X.
A joint statement by Graham and Blumenthal accused India, China, and Brazil of 'propping up Putin's war machine' by purchasing cheap Russian oil and gas. The statement warned that if these countries did not halt such trade, they could face tariffs of up to 500 per cent.
During a high-profile meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump said:
"One of the reasons that you're here today is to hear that we are very unhappy — I am — with Russia. But we will discuss that maybe another day. But we're very, very unhappy with them, and we're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days. Tariffs at about 100 percent. You'd call them secondary tariffs. But today, we're going to talk about something else."
The senior US Senators' statement underscored Donald Trump's tariff threat as a strategic move:
'The ultimate hammer to bring about the end of this war will be tariffs against countries, like China, India and Brazil, that prop up Putin's war machine by purchasing cheap Russian oil and gas. President Trump's decision to announce the implementation of 100 percent secondary tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and gas if a peace agreement is not reached in the next 50 days is a real executive hammer to drive the parties to the negotiating table. The goal is not more tariffs and sanctions — the goal is to entice Putin to come to the peace table.'
Democratic Senator Blumenthal, in a post, lauded the US President's decision, calling it a "breakthrough step" while slamming Russia's Putin by calling him a "thug".
He further called for pushing the bill, "Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025", introduced by him and Senator Graham on April 1, noting that the bill will impose "tougher penalties to deter India, China, Brazil" and other countries that are still in business with Moscow.
Earlier this month, India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar confirmed that India's concerns on energy security have been communicated to Senator Graham. Speaking at a press conference, Jaishankar said:
"Regarding Senator Lindsey Graham's bill, any development which is happening in the US Congress is of interest to us if it impacts our interest or could impact our interest. So we have been in touch with Senator Lindsey Graham. The embassy, ambassador have been in touch. Our concerns and our interests on energy, security have been made conversant to him. So we'll then have to cross that bridge when we come to it. If we come to it."