Trump Imposes Additional 25 Percent Tariff on India Over Russian Oil Imports

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Points this week: US President Donald Trump imposes An additional tariff of 25 percent on IndiaSigns of Bangladesh One year since the mass demonstrations It led to the expulsion of former Prime Minister Sheikh Husaynah and supporters of the former Pakistani leader Imran Khan A protest in Pakistan.

The United States and India are involved in an ugly confrontation with trade and definitions – and there is no end on the horizon. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump continued his former threat and announced an additional 25 percent tariff in India, citing the continuous purchase of Russian oil. The new tax is at the top of a current tariff of 25 percent, Trump announced last week. The total definitions in India significantly higher than those imposed on the neighbors of India, including Pakistan (19 percent), Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (20 percent each).

Indian officials indicated that they currently do not have any plans to stop buying energy from Russia. New Delhi argued that targeting it by Washington and Brussels is “unjustified and unreasonable.” After all, Russian crude China buys more than India, but it has not been specifically targeted. In addition, New Delhi believes that she had already done more than enough to address American concerns and argued that she was buying Russian oil under the Certified Prices of Group 7, which also helped stabilize global energy prices-a position approved by the Biden administration loosely.

Since then, New Delhi has tried to appease Washington on other fronts. It has reduced its share of weapons imports from Russia and increased US oil imports, while dramatically reduced imports from Iran and Venezuela. While New Delhi loves to sign, all of this while the European Union and the United States continue to import Russian goods. The government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also made other concessions to the Trump administration, including limiting some definitions and restoring dozens of illegal Indian workers.

Russia is one of the oldest and most confident Indian partners, as well as a decisive resource for economic and military assistance – even with India’s strengthening with Washington and European in recent years. New Delhi loves to say he does not turn against his friends. Russia will not be an exception.

Then there is the economic factor. Cheap Russian crude constitutes approximately 35 percent of oil imports in India. Energy experts say that the transformation into non -Russian sources can add up to $ 11 billion to the import bill in New Delhi.

But as Trump increased to a total of 50 percent of the tariffs on India, the walls are closed to Indian policy makers: if they retreat from getting rid of Russia, you may face significant economic pain.

This leaves New Delhi with difficult options. It can expand the ongoing efforts to organize new trade deals with other countries to ensure greater arrival in the market and reduce the damage of the American customs tariff. India is currently talking to the European Union – the highest export market – to complete the free trade agreement. But these negotiations are complex and can take some time.

New Delhi can renew the previous efforts to avoid Russia to stop fighting in Ukraine. Trump is likely to pressure India less on Russian oil if Moscow is no longer waging a war that Trump wants to end strongly. However, the previous calls for peace by India did not succeed. Trump may not like India to take over the mediation role that he wants to play, indicating the risk of additional tensions.

India can also continue an agreement with Washington. But this may be fraught with risks politically for New Delhi, given the broader tensions in the relations of the United States and India, and it will be uncomfortable to make more concessions. Moody has already urged the Indians to buy a local “atmosphere of instability.”

In the first days of the second Trump administration, Indian officials announced confidence in their ability to work with Trump’s mercurial and unpredictable. But with the tariffs of definitions that have become a severe dual flash point, it can be said that the relationship between the United States and India is now facing its largest test over the past two decades. New Delhi must move in the customs tariff crisis and maintain the relationship standing on his feet – all during the management of the US President’s whims.

What are we?‘Re -follow -up

One year since the fall of Hasinah. On Tuesday, Bangladesh has been distinguished by one year since the mass protests have long prompted the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, the resignation and the flight to India. Hasina’s departure came after weeks of demonstrations led by students against her authoritarian rule, which prompted the country’s security forces brutally eliminating the demonstrators, which led to the death of more than 1,400 people. The allergy to the allergies of massive political effects in a country governed by the Awami Association Party was for more than 15 consecutive years.

Today, Bangladeshis will be happier and more freedom than they were during the era of Hasinah, but the honeymoon after the revolution is a distant memory. The country’s interim government, led by Nobel Prize holder Mohamed Younis, has struggled to achieve stability in the economy and promote law and order. Meanwhile, Silil Tribathi writes in Foreign policy This week, the country’s policy cycle continued to continue.

In fact, many protest leaders – some of whom served in the interim government before they left earlier this year to form a new political party – insisted on following the ambitious structural reforms that were promised immediately after the fall of Hasinah. But progress has been delayed, leaving many frustrated Bangladeshis. On Tuesday, Yunus announced that the country will hold the elections next February. Bangladesh has not faced free and fair elections for a long time, and opinion polls will indicate next year a major test after Hasina Bangladesh.

Protests in Pakistan. On Tuesday, Pakistani police arrested more than 200 people, as supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan moved to the streets to protest his prison. After losing the authority in a parliamentary vote without confidence in 2022, Khan operated the former embarrassment of the powerful Pakistan army, which led to a huge campaign against itself, the Pakistan Tweik-Anti-Erfa (PTI), and the large support base. He was eventually imprisoned in 2023 on charges of corruption, which is an accusation that his supporters were refusing political motivation.

Iqbal on Tuesday, despite relatively modest, is impressive given the size of the campaign against Khan’s supporters. With Khan in prison, the remaining PTI leadership has struggled to adapt, and it is difficult to mobilize street filling. Most of the party’s noise was created abroad, as PTI supporters protested large numbers – but without any ability to change the calculation and integration account in Islamabad.

The Pakistani army, which regained some public good in the aftermath of the last military clash with India in May, is continuing to hold all cards. The ruling leaders are led by Prime Minister Shaybaz Sharif, who are happy to postpone the army. Meanwhile, Pakistan generals have strengthened relations with the main allies, including Washington.

Kashmir, six years. On Tuesday, it has been characterized by six years since the Indian government canceled Article 370, which gave a special situation for the autonomy of Pamo and Kashmir. The decision led to the region to become a trade union area of India, as Kashmir was brought by its Indian under full control of the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

New Delhi defended the change as a purely administrative that would help achieve more stability and prosperity to the disputed area. But many Kashmir residents, especially in the Kashmir Valley, as well as Islamabad in the nearby Pakistan – which the India administration refuses – denounced. On Tuesday, hundreds were distinguished by the anniversary by organizing the protests in Kashmir, which is run by Pakistan. Meanwhile, in Srinjar, a city in Kashmir by Al -Hindi, opposition members urged the central government to restore the state in the region.

Although the region remained hugely, the first few years of canceling Article 370 brought some relative calm and “normal life” to Kashmir, as New Delhi argued. However, this narration was undermined when a terrorist attack was killed in April, which blamed New Delhi for gunmen associated with Pakistan, who killed 26 tourists in the Bahajam area in Kashmir.

Senior Indian officials, including Modi, recently indicated their willingness to restore the Kashmir state, albeit with no indication of the time frame. The Supreme Court in India is scheduled to agree on the case on August 8.

Under the radar

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcus Junior in India for a five -day state visit this week. On Tuesday, he met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two countries agreed to upgrade their bilateral relations and announced a strategic partnership. This is not a surprise. In recent years, New Delhi’s relationship with Manila has flourished quietly to one of the strongest in Southeast Asia-and in ways that could also be beneficial to the United States and India relations. In April, New Delhi sent Cruise Cruise missiles to Manila to help the Philippines face the Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.

This represents a case of India, which acts as a clear security provider in the Pacific Endo and helps the progress of American strategic interests, an example of sharing the burden that the Trump administration expects from its allies and partners. In this sense, Marcus’s visit to India is important not only to the last foreign policy, but also to the United States. But as Washington focused heavily on the definitions and India’s relations with Russia, the visit may not receive the attention it deserves.

FP‘Read more this week

Regional voices

A Daily Mirror Editorial It provides a advice to Colombo on how a secret Lanca response to American definitions: “Our country needs to search for markets within our region and with the Brexes. Asia is in fact the largest market … Africa is a new market that opens and we need to consider these two sources for mutual help and development.”

in Prothom aloEconomist Salim Rihan It discusses the effects of obtaining a 15 % decrease in the rate of mutual tariffs from Washington. While the reduction is “encouraging, it does not raise any option to complete the self,” says Rihan. “Bangladesh must now behave decisively to create a variety of commercial, competitive and flexible strategy.”

to PrintingJournalist Sangvy virus She asks about the reason for India’s feeling of “feeling treason” about US President Donald Trump’s embrace of Islamabad, given everything in the past Pakistan in the past. Singvy wrote, referring to the American president’s embrace of anti -Muslims. “In fact, Trump and the Indian fans club had nothing in common.”