President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to increase “significantly” the surcharge of 25% on Monday which he plans to set up on products from India, a country to which he accuses of buying “large amounts of Russian oil”.
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The Indians “do not care about the number of people who are killed in Ukraine by the Russian war machine,” said the head of state in a message on his social social platform.
“Because of this, I will significantly increase the customs duties paid by India in the United States,” he adds.
Products from dozens of trade partners in the United States, including the European Union and India, must be struck by a new surcharge from Thursday, in the name of rebalancing the exchanges desired by the American president.
The customs duties scheduled for India are currently 25%.
But Donald Trump had warned that he wanted to impose so-called “secondary” sanctions, that is to say inflicted on countries that buy Russian oil, in order to dry up this essential source of income for Moscow.
Donald Trump had already criticized India for its Russian hydrocarbon and armament purchases.
India is the second Russian oil buyer after China.
In his message on Monday, Donald Trump accuses India “not only of buying large quantities of Russian oil”, but also to resell a large part in the international markets “to make big profits”.
“Targeting India is unjustified and unreasonable,” reacted the spokesman for the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Randir Jaiswal, adding that “like all leading economies, India will take the necessary measures to preserve its national interests and economic security”.