Washington — The Trump administration escalated its campaign to choke off Russian oil revenues, calling on NATO allies and G7 partners to adopt sweeping tariffs on Chinese and Indian goods in retaliation for their continued purchases of discounted crude from Moscow.
US Treasury officials urged European leaders to embrace punitive measures, framing the push as essential to undercut Russia’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine. The proposal envisions tariffs of 50% to 100% on Chinese exports and steep duties on Indian goods, measures that risk inflaming global trade disputes while sharpening divisions inside the Western alliance.
President Donald Trump, speaking before reporters, demanded that “all NATO countries stop buying Russian oil immediately”, tying compliance to the credibility of the alliance. His remarks dovetailed with an allied debate over deterrence and burden-sharing that has sharpened since the NATO Articles 4 and 5 debate laid bare fractures in the bloc’s approach to Russia and regional escalation.
European capitals, however, remain split. Several governments, still dependent on Russian crude and wary of retaliatory tariffs from Beijing and New Delhi, fear the blowback of a trans-Atlantic tariff war. Diplomats pointed out that the EU already faces rising inflation and energy instability, a reality that has fueled contentious debates in Brussels over sanctions, including earlier battles on the suspension of trade preferences for far-right ministers in EU measures targeting Israel.
For India, the tariffs threaten a cornerstone of its energy security. New Delhi has emerged as one of the largest buyers of Russian oil since 2022, refining and re-exporting it to global markets. Indian officials have resisted US pressure, arguing that discounted Russian supplies help stabilize domestic fuel prices. China, by far the biggest buyer of Russian crude, has signaled it will not bow to Western dictates, raising the prospect of a direct tariff confrontation between the world’s two largest economies—and accelerating interest in BRICS-led de-dollarization to cushion against secondary sanctions.
Analysts warn that such measures could deepen the fractures already visible between the Global North and South. While Washington frames the effort as a moral imperative to starve Russia, Moscow and its partners present it as proof of Western economic imperialism. The US push also risks jolting energy markets at a moment when Europe is still recalibrating supply lines, a vulnerability highlighted in recent NATO cohesion debates that tie energy resilience directly to defense planning.
Trump has also hinted at a broader sanctions package, telling Bloomberg he was prepared for “major measures” against Moscow if NATO unified behind the strategy. The linkage of NATO military cohesion with economic compliance reflects Washington’s view that the battlefield in Ukraine, the stability of European markets, and the integrity of the alliance are inseparable.
For Poland, on the frontline of the conflict, the stakes are immediate. Warsaw’s skies were again breached by Russian drones last week, underscoring both the limits of NATO deterrence and the urgency of tightening Russia’s revenue streams, as noted by The Independent. The coming weeks will test whether Europe is prepared to risk economic retaliation from China and India to maintain pressure on Russia, or whether the Trump administration will act unilaterally with tariffs that could redefine global trade alignments. According to Reuters, Treasury officials are pressing for decisions before the next G7 summit, signaling that Washington is determined to make tariffs a central weapon of its sanctions war.
