来源：钛媒体
TMTPOST --?U.S. President Donald?Trump?on Wednesday ramped up pressure on India?with an unspecified “penalty”?on top of hefty tariffs for?the?Asian economy’s surging?trade?with Russia, mainly for?purchases of sanctioned?Russian?oil.
Credit：China Central Television
?India will be?paying a tariff?of 25%?“plus?a?penalty?for the above”,?starting?August 1,?Trump?announced?in a?social media?post.?The?president didn’t?offer?any clue?of the penalty, but attached India’s?trade barriers?and heavy?reliance?on Russian?energy?and military equipment.
India?is one of Russia’s largest buyers?of energy, and “they?have always?bought?a vast majority of?their military equipment from?Russia”,?Trump posted on?his?platform Truth Social.?He also claimed India has implemented “far too high”?tariffs, “among?the highest?in the world,?and the country?has “the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country.”??He?stressed?in?another post that the?U.S. has?a massive trade deficit?with India.
The 50% tariff?rate is well above the 10% baseline tariffs that goods from most U.S. trading partners including South Korea have charged since April.?It is also?higher than the?tariff range that Trump?earlier this week?threatened?he would impose?if?India?fails to?reach a trade?deal?with?the U.S.?When asked by a reporter if India would pay tariffs of 20% to 25%, Trump said?on Tuesday, “Yeah, I think so.?India has been – they’re my friends.”??
The White House?didn’t?specify the additional penalty?that?Trump?noted in his post. Trump’s top economic aide, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on Wednesday?suggested?the president?felt?upset about the stalled?trade negotiations between U.S. and India, and he?wants the?country?to?open up its market. ?
“I think President Trump is frustrated with the progress we’ve made with India but feels that a 25% tariff will address and remedy the situation in a way that’s good for the American people,” Hassett said .?He?speculated the tariffs might the?Indian?government?to reconsider its?practices,?and Indians?“might even open their markets more to us so that we reconsider our future trades.”
?India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry?later Wednesday said?the government?is studying the implications of Trump’s tariff announcement.?“India and the US have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months,” the ministry said in a statement. “We remain committed to that objective.”
India?was one of the first?trading partners that start?negotiating with?the Trump administration.?Trump and his cabinet members had?repeated?they would make a deal with?India?soon, but the five?rounds of?talks so far have still failed to remove?all the hurdles.
India is bracing itself for higher U.S. tariffs, which will likely be between 20%-25% on some exports, as temporary measure, since it holds off?on fresh concessions by?August?1 and eyes?broader trade?deal?past the deadline, Reuters cited Indian government?officials?on?Tuesday.?
New Delhi reportedly plans to resume broader trade negotiations when a U.S. delegation visits in mid-August, with the goal of finalizing a comprehensive bilateral agreement by September or October.
Trump’s ability to secure commitments on market access for US producers has become a particularly salient fixation after U.S. reached tradeagreements with Japan and the European Union, which have emboldened the president as the August 1 deadline for reciprocal tariffs looms, CNN cited trade officials on Wednesday.
One of?the?officials said such fixation has created a significant obstacle to the prospects of?a deal?with?India.?“They’re willing to go part of the way,” the official said. “But the president isn’t in a ‘part of the way’ mood – he wants barriers removed completely or as close to completely as possible.”
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