WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he did not immediately need to consider retaliatory tariffs on countries such as China for buying Russian oil but might have to “in two or three weeks.”
Trump has threatened sanctions on Moscow and secondary sanctions on countries that buy its oil if no moves are made to end the war in Ukraine. China and India are the top two buyers of Russian oil.
The president last week imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, citing its continued imports of Russian oil.
However, Trump has not taken similar action against China.
He was asked by Fox News’ Sean Hannity if he was now considering such action against Beijing after he and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to produce an agreement to resolve or pause Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
“Well, because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that,” Trump said after his summit with Putin in Alaska.
“Now, I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now. I think, you know, the meeting went very well.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s slowing economy will suffer if Trump follows through on a promise to ramp up Russia-related sanctions and tariffs.
Xi and Trump are working on a trade deal that could lower tensions – and import taxes – between the world’s two biggest economies. But China could be the biggest remaining target, outside of Russia, if Trump ramps up punitive measures.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas, Jasper Ward Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and William Mallard)
