US Senators Introduce Bill Proposing 100% Tariffs On India, Four Others Over Russian Oil Purchases

A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill proposing tariffs of up to 100% on imports from five countries, including India and China, for purchasing Russian oil.

The proposed legislation, brokered by late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, also seeks to impose full blocking sanctions on key sectors of the Russian economy. These include the energy and financial industries, the defence industrial base, oligarchs, business leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Apart from India and China, the other countries covered by the proposed tariffs are Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan, PTI reports.

“It's been referred to as a tariffs bill, but actually it imposes full blocking sanctions on wide swaths of the Russian economy, including its energy industry, financial industry, defence industrial base, oligarchs, business people, and Vladimir Putin himself,” Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic Senator from Connecticut, told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.

"It imposes tariffs that are targeted: narrowly limited to the five major purchasers - up to 100% - with waiver authority that is narrowly tailored and constricted. And those five major purchasers, right now, of oil are China, India, Slovakia, Hungary, Azerbaijan," Blumenthal said.

European countries exempted from proposed tariffs

The bill exempts 15 European countries that continue to import Russian gas, with lawmakers arguing that these purchases account for only a small share of their energy needs and that the countries are taking steps to reduce their dependence on Moscow.

If enacted, the legislation would mark the first time the US Congress explicitly authorises the use of tariffs as a geopolitical tool to penalise countries financing another nation's war effort.

An earlier version of the proposal had sought to impose tariffs of up to 500% on countries buying Russian oil and gas.

Blumenthal said, "Our European allies are not targeted here".

"It is very important to understand that we have so narrowly crafted and tailored and targeted this bill to aim at the major purchaser of Russian oil and gas.”

Lawmakers pay tribute to Lindsey Graham

Republican and Democratic senators presented the bill at a Capitol Hill press conference as a tribute to Graham, the South Carolina senator, who passed away in the wee hours of Sunday.

Senator Katie Britt, a Republican from Alabama, said Graham had worked "tirelessly, relentlessly" to bring the legislation together and believed it would become the most consequential measure of his career.

Senator Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, described the bill as Graham's greatest achievement in the cause of preserving peace in Europe.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire and the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, urged Congress to seize the "narrow window to pass the legislation".

Last month, the US proposed imposing 12.5% tariffs on 54 countries, including India, alleging they had failed to prohibit the import of goods produced with forced labour.