Breaking Update: Here’s a clear explanation of the latest developments related to Breaking News:After Trump’s 500% tariff threat, US Treasury Secretary’s message to India on Russian oil purchase| India News– What Just Happened and why it matters right now.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday said President Donald Trump does need the authority from the Senate to impose 500 per cent tariffs on countries purchasing Russian oil.
On India, the Treasury Secretary claimed that New Delhi has stopped buying Russian oil after the Trump administration imposed 25 per cent tariffs.
Bessent was referring to the Russia Sanctions Bill allows the US to impose at least 500 per cent tariff on countries purchasing Russian oil. US President Donald Trump has greenlit the bill earlier this month.
“On the 500% tariff on the buyers of Russian oil, that is a proposal that Senator Graham has in front of the Senate and we will see whether that passes. We don’t believe that President Trump needs that authority, that he can do it under IEPA, but that the Senate wants to give him that authority,” Bessent said in an interview.
The White House official blamed Europe for buying Russian oil, even as he said that New Delhi has “stopped buying” Russian oil.
“We have Europe buying Russian oil, still, four years later, they are financing the war against themselves. India started buying Russian oil after the conflict began, but President Trump put a 25% tariff on them, and India has geared down and has stopped buying Russian oil,” he said.
He also hit out at China, one of the top buyers of Russia oil.
On January 8, US Senator Lindsey Graham, while making the details of the bill public, said that the proposed legislation would give President Trump “tremendous leverage against countries like China, India and Brazil to incentivize them to stop buying the cheap Russian oil that provides the financing for Putin’s bloodbath against Ukraine.”