NATO chief warns India, China & Brazil could be hit ‘very hard' by sanctions if they continue to do business with Russia
Mark Rutte
on Tuesday warned that
secondary sanctions
targeting Russia could severely impact India, China, and Brazil, if they continued to do business with Moscow.
'Secondary sanctions on Russia over Ukraine could hit countries like China, India and Brazil very hard,' Rutte was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The NATO chief made the remarks while meeting with American senators in Congress, a day after US President Donald Trump announced a fresh package of
weapons for Ukraine
and threatened "biting" secondary tariffs of up to 100% on buyers of Russian exports — unless a peace deal is reached within 50 days.
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US Senators push tougher sanctions on Moscow
Amid Trump's call for imposing 100 per cent "secondary tariffs" on Moscow if Russian President Vladimir Putin fails to end the conflict in Ukraine within 50 days, Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal have warned countries, including India, of economic sanctions if they continue business with Russia.
South Carolina Republican Senator Graham and Democratic Senator Blumenthal are leading 85 cosponsors on a bipartisan bill introduced earlier this year, calling for sanctions on Moscow which they say could be a "sledgehammer" Trump needs to end the conflict.
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"We'll continue to push for Senator Graham & my Russia Sanctions bill with even tougher penalties to deter India, China, Brazil & others from fueling Putin's war machine. Congressional action sends a powerful message of support," Richard Blumenthal said in a post on his social media handle X.
Their joint statement noted China, India, and Brazil as nations "that prop up Putin's war machine" by purchasing "cheap Russian oil and gas", fueling the conflict. They called for tariffs as high as 500 per cent on any country that helps Russia.
Trump announced these "secondary tariffs" on Russia during his meeting with NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte on Monday.
US aims to pressure Putin through tariffs on allies
Graham and Blumenthal's statement also stressed that Trump's move was intended as a strong executive measure to push all parties toward negotiations, aiming to compel Putin to the peace table.
"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," the statement read.
"Finally, as President Trump indicated, we will join our colleagues in continuing to work with the White House on our bipartisan Russia sanctions legislation that would implement up to 500 percent tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and gas and do not help Ukraine," it added.
During the meeting with NATO's chief, 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."
India engages with US lawmakers amid sanctions debate
Earlier this month, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the Indian embassy and ambassador have been in touch with Senator Graham regarding the sanctions bill, and that "India will have to cross that bridge if it comes to it."
Speaking at a press conference, Jaishankar stated that India has conveyed its concerns and interests related to energy and security to Senator Graham.
Regarding the proposed 500 per cent tariffs on Russian oil imports, 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."
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