WASHINGTON, 10 September 2025 — U.S. President Donald Trump has urged the European Union to join Washington in imposing 100% tariffs on imports from China and India, in what sources describe as a coordinated attempt to tighten economic pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to officials familiar with the matter, Trump conveyed his request during a high-level conference call with EU Sanctions Envoy David O’Sullivan and other European representatives. The U.S. president argued that by targeting two of Russia’s largest oil buyers with sweeping trade penalties, the West could cut off a critical financial lifeline that has helped Moscow withstand sanctions since the invasion of Ukraine.
The proposal represents a dramatic escalation in Western economic strategy. While the United States and the EU have relied heavily on sanctions to limit Russia’s ability to fund its war, the introduction of blanket tariffs would mark a sharp turn toward trade instruments as a tool of geopolitical leverage. For the EU, which has tried to balance pressure on Moscow with managing its own economic fragility, Trump’s demand could intensify divisions over how far Europe is prepared to go.
Trump signaled that Washington would mirror such duties if Brussels agreed, but the move could also inflame tensions with Beijing and New Delhi, whose economies are closely intertwined with global supply chains. Earlier this year, Trump had already raised tariffs on Indian imports by 25 percentage points in response to what he described as New Delhi’s “unacceptable” alignment with Russia. Imposing a blanket 100% tariff would push the trade confrontation to a new level, with potentially wide-ranging consequences for global commerce.
At the same time, Trump appeared to adopt a dual-track approach. In a late-night social media post, he said the United States was actively working to improve trade relations with India and expressed optimism about speaking directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the near future. This attempt to balance punitive action with diplomatic outreach underscores Trump’s transactional style, where trade and foreign policy are often wielded interchangeably as negotiating levers.
For China, the prospect of fresh tariffs comes at a delicate moment as it grapples with slowing domestic growth and rising trade frictions with both the United States and Europe. Analysts warn that punitive measures of this scale would not only escalate existing trade wars but also destabilize supply chains in industries ranging from consumer electronics to renewable energy.
The push for coordinated tariffs also raises questions over the EU’s willingness to align with Washington. While European leaders share U.S. concerns over Russia’s energy exports, there remains unease about becoming entangled in broader trade confrontations that could weigh on the bloc’s fragile recovery. Whether Brussels adopts Trump’s proposal could prove a decisive moment in shaping Western unity against Moscow and determining the balance of global trade relations in the years ahead.
