US President Donald Trump issued a warning on imposing new "secondary sanctions" on nations that maintain commercial ties with Russia.
He was reacting to a question by a journalist, asking why India seems to be uniquely singled out for persisting with doing business with Moscow while other importing Russian energy like China does not seem to incur as much backlash.
Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday doubling current duties to 50% by imposing an extra 25% tariff on Indian imports, citing India's massive purchases of Russian oil as the main reason.
Responding to the question about the impression of singling out India, Trump responded, "It's only been 8 hours. So let's see what happens. You're going to see a lot more.You're going to see so many secondary sanctions."
Even as a key partner in America's competition with China, India's large trade surplus with America and good relations with Russia—whom Trump is pressuring to come to a peace deal with Ukraine—have landed New Delhi squarely in the sights of this administration's belligerent tariff strategy.
Trump's recent statement that India can import oil from Pakistan, a long-standing enemy, has elicited strong opposition in India. In a sharply trenchant retort, New Delhi had called out the US for hypocrisy, pointing to America's own continued imports of Russian products like uranium hexafluoride, palladium, and fertilizers.
Terming the newest round of tariffs "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable," the Indian government said on Wednesday that it was planning to avail itself of all options to protect national interests.
Experts believe Trump's recent policy actions may undo years of painstakingly constructed diplomatic efforts between the US and India. The intensification of tensions might bleed into other spheres of cooperation, as both countries now have internal pressures that can make their positions more inflexible.
"India is stuck in a trap: due to Trump's coercion, Modi will cut India's Russian oil imports, but he cannot let it be known he is doing so or risk appearing to be capitulating to Trump's blackmail," said Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, according to Reuters.
"We may be on the verge of a avoidable crisis that unravels a quarter century of carefully won Indian progress," she said.
Evan Feigenbaum, a previous senior official in the administration of President George W. Bush, had similar things to say. He warned that India could get caught up in the vagaries of US domestic politics.
"Among the most polar and combustible issues in Washington that directly involve India are immigration and deportation, H1B visas for technology workers, offshoring and foreign manufacturing by US corporations, and technology sharing and co-innovation with aliens," he added in a LinkedIn post.
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