Trump Threatens "Secondary Tariffs" on Russian Oil

After weeks of negotiations with the Kremlin, U.S. President Donald Trump is beginning to show impatience with Russia's continued aggression in Ukraine, and on Sunday he threatened to create a new penalty on Russian oil: "secondary tariffs" imposed on the nations that buy it. In practice, this would mean new U.S. tariffs on China, India and Turkey, the three nations that buy meaningful volumes of Russian crude.

The peace talks with the U.S. have produced valuable results for Russia, like a pledge of American assistance to help Russian ag exporters compete for more global market share - but there have been few if any benefits for Ukraine. Russian forces continue to bombard civilian infrastructure and to seize territory, advancing Russia's strategic interests while ignoring Trump's pleas for peace. On Russian state television, prominent commentators have mocked Trump's lead negotiator as an "empty head" for trusting the Kremlin's statements, and have celebrated Russia's ability to "fight America in war and win" in Ukraine.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for the creation of a transitional caretaker government to replace Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has led the nation's defense since the start of the invasion three years ago. Putin also said that his troops would "finish off" Ukraine's army, which has been steadily losing ground for months.

"I was saying not so long ago: 'We will get them.' There are reasons to believe that we will finish them off, too," Putin said.

In an early morning call with NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, Trump said that he was "pissed off" with Putin for the suggestion, and said that Putin's remarks were "not going in the right direction."

"If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia," Trump said. "That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States."

The U.S., UK and EU banned imports of Russian oil in 2022 (with limited exceptions). Russia sells virtually all of its crude oil to China (47 percent), India (37 percent) and Turkey (six percent), and these three nations would be most affected by any "secondary tariffs."

Russian LNG, refined products and coal are exported to a broader pool of buyers, but it is unclear if these energy commodities would be targeted.