New Delhi: Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has come out in support of the US Senate’s efforts to allow imposition of tariffs as high as 100 percent on countries like India and China for their continued purchase of Russian oil.
“I hope that the Lindsey Graham bill passes and the US imposes tougher sanctions on Russia,” Sikorski said while speaking on The Long Game podcast hosted by former US officials Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer. The episode was published Thursday.
Sikorski, who is also the Polish Deputy Prime Minister, has in the past publicly commented on India’s purchases of Russian oil, which led to a public spat with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar during his visit to New Delhi earlier this year.
In January, Sikorski, after a meeting of the Weimar Triangle of Foreign Ministers—held between the Polish, German and French foreign ministers—had expressed his “satisfaction that India has reduced Russian oil imports”. Jaishankar was invited to attend the meeting as a part of an extended format.
Sikorski’s comments were not taken lightly by New Delhi. Around 12 days after his comments in Paris, the Polish Foreign Minister held a bilateral meeting with Jaishankar in New Delhi, when the latter issued a rare rebuke in his opening remarks.
During the meeting, Jaishankar said the selective targeting of India is “unjustified and unfair”. While Sikorski agreed with the Indian minister, indicating that the statement was regarding American tariffs, Jaishankar replied that “selective targeting is not limited to tariffs”, highlighting his displeasure with Western countries’ repeated efforts to have India curtail Russian oil purchases.
The latest Bill passed by the US Senate in a 86-12 vote earlier this week would give US President Donald Trump the power to impose up to 100 percent tariff on the top five countries purchasing Russian energy and military arms.
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, representing the state of Connecticut, in his comments on the Bill specifically blamed India and China for continuing to fund Russia’s war machine through the purchase of oil.
The House of Representatives is expected to take up the Bill. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy witnessed the Bill passing through the Senate and welcomed the efforts to impose further penalties on Russia.
The Bill is expected to be delayed as the US House of Representatives is currently in recess. Trump added a further demand, asking the Bill to be amended to allow him to impose tariffs on countries continuing to trade with Iran, which could further delay the process.
India is continuing to look at the movement of the Bill through the American Congress warily. Nevertheless, the Bill could be a potential headache for India’s efforts to retain its energy independence. The previous US administration under President Joe Biden urged India to purchase Russian oil to maintain stability of the energy markets.
Trump imposed tariffs of up to 50 percent on India last year due to the purchase of Russian oil. The penalty tariff of 25 percent was removed in February following the agreement for a framework of an interim trade deal announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump.
The US President for a period in March and April relaxed sanctions on the purchase of Russian oil as energy prices spiked due to the American war with Iran. Prices have once again surged as Washington D.C. and Tehran have continued to strike at one another in recent weeks.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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