WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said declining energy prices could pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the war in Ukraine.
“If energy goes down enough, Putin is going to stop killing people,” Trump said in an interview on CNBC.
He added, “If you get energy down, another $10 a barrel, he’s going to have no choice because his economy stinks.”
On the other hand, Trump also said he was considering “substantially” hiking tariffs on Indian imports in the next 24 hours over the country’s purchases of Russian oil.
“India has not been a good trading partner, because they do a lot of business with us, but we don’t do business with them. So we settled on 25 percent but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil,” he told CNBC.
“They’re fueling the war machine, and if they’re going to do that, then I’m not going to be happy,” Trump said without providing a new tariff rate for India.
It was a repeat of what he had said in a Truth Social post on Monday one of his closest aide accused India of financing Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Read more: Trump to ‘substantially’ raise tariffs on India over Russian oil
250% PHARMACEUTICAL TARIFFS
At the same time, he said upcoming tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals could go as high as 250 per cent — after starting at a lower level — adding he plans to unveil fresh duties on foreign semiconductors.
“We’ll be putting (an) initially small tariff on pharmaceuticals, but in one year, one-and-a-half years, maximum, it’s going to go to 150 per cent and then it’s going to go to 250 per cent because we want pharmaceuticals made in our country,” Trump said.
It’s a developing story. Details to follow.