EU To Resist Trump Pressure To Hit China & India With 100% Tariffs

Eyebrows have been raised as President Trump has reportedly been busy urging the European Union to impose tariffs of up to 100% on China and India over their purchases of Russian oil. Europe is unlikely to comply, most reports say.

According to the Financial Times and CNBC, Trump made the proposal during a meeting in Washington on Tuesday with top American and EU officials – with one aspect to the pitch being the US is willing to implement matching tariffs if Europe proceeds. The Europeans were led by the bloc’s sanctions chief, David O’Sullivan, and the US side was led by senior US Treasury officials.

The European Commission has kept mum on the report, as has the White House, but the Commission has been touting its forthcoming 'tough’ 19th sanctions package targeting Russia, given it includes measures to target sanctions evasion involving third countries.

India has blasted the current 50% tariff levied by Washington, including a 25% punitive duty it for its Russian oil purchases, and the EU is wary of any overly aggressive method which would damage relations with China and India.

But a US official told the Financial Times that the Trump White House is „ready to go, ready to go right now, but we are only going to do this if our European partners step up with us.”

Trump had written Tuesday on Truth Social, „India, and the United States of America, are continuing negotiations to address the Trade Barriers between our two Nations.”

„I look forward to speaking with my very good friend, Prime Minister Modi, in the upcoming weeks,” he added. „I feel certain that there will be no difficulty in coming to a successful conclusion for both of our Great Countries!”

This heightened tariff talk and threats are happening just as the May US trade court ruling which concluded the tariff’s „exceed any authority granted to the president” is heading to the supreme court, after last month a federal appeals court upheld it.

As for the current tariff impact on US ally India, one producer in India’s large carpet industry has lamented, „We are completely dependent on the US for our business and have no other markets. The tariffs have brought our production to a halt, and no consignment has been dispatched to the US for the past one month.”

Perspective of a NATO hawk…

I call to punish India and not to reward Modi for backstabbing Ukraine and Europe in China with his new best friend Putin
We need to shift gear and tack
No more EU FTA for India
Boycott India fully
Secondary sanction India
100% tariffs on India
Until Modi falls and India breaks pic.twitter.com/n3miAidnu5

— Gunther Fehlinger-Jahn (@GunterFehlinger) September 4, 2025

The person underscored, „It is the worst phase of my 50-year career in the carpet business, and the industry will die a painful death if the situation doesn’t improve in the next two months.”

In the meantime the US tariffs have served to push India and China closer together, despite an uneasy 'frenemy’ history, including border tensions among the nuclear-armed Asian powers.