Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has sharply denounced the United States' tariff bluff, saying that "ancient civilisations" like India and China will not bow to ultimatums.
Speaking at Russia's Channel 1 television show, 'The Great Game,' Lavrov stated that US "demands" to desist from buying Russian energy are nothing but compelling nations to "look for new markets for energy, new resources, and pay more."
His comments come after the Donald Trump administration lashed out at India for continuing to buy oil from Moscow during the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict.
"China and India are both old civilisations, and to speak to them in this language, 'either do what I dislike and don't do it, or I will put tariffs on you well, that won't do,'" Lavrov declared, cautioning Washington regarding the "moral and political" pushback that is developing due to its adopted method.
He emphasized the way the US has been met by New Delhi and Beijing:
“Besides the fact that this undermines the economic well-being of those countries, it at least creates very serious difficulties for them, forcing them to seek new markets, new sources of energy supplies, (and) forcing them to pay higher prices. But beyond this, and perhaps even more importantly than this, there is a moral and political opposition to this approach,” he added.
India and the US have been in negotiations in recent months for an interim trade agreement. In July, Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on Indian products in spite of the hope that an interim agreement would prevent the imposition of greater tariffs.
Just a short time afterward, he imposed another 25 percent tariff—totaling 50 percent—on grounds of India's ongoing imports of Russian oil. The 50 percent tariffs went into effect on August 27.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has publicly attacked India consistently, hailing it as the "maharaja of tariffs" and accusing elites of gaining at the cost of local workers.
Speaking in a CNBC International interview on September 15, Navarro stated, "Indian refiners were in bed with Russian refiners right after the invasion. They profit from us through unfair trade and lots of workers get screwed. They spend that money purchasing Russian oil, and Russians spend it on weapons."
He added, “India is coming to the table. On the trade side, they have very high tariffs.”
Navarro has also queried Prime Minister Narendra Modi's interactions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying, "Look, the Indian people need to understand what’s going on here. You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop.”
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has also complained about India's tariff policies. While giving an interview recently to Axios, he said, "India boasts of having 1.4 billion people but won't buy even a small quantity of American corn," warning New Delhi that it needs to lower duties or it will have a "tough time" conducting business with the US.
On the issue of new sanctions on Russia, Lavrov said, "Frankly speaking, I don't see any problem.... An enormous amount of sanctions, unprecedented for that period, were imposed during President Donald Trump's first term."
"We have started to draw conclusions from the situation when the West imposed these sanctions. Later, during President Joe Biden's term, sanctions were used as a replacement for any diplomatic effort. There was no search for a compromise," Lavrov added.
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