Kumar Bahukhandi
After Trump, NATO warns countries buying Russian oil-Photo Credit Reuters
While Donald Trump threatened Russia to stop the war with Ukraine within 50 days or face heavy tariffs, now the NATO chief has warned Russia’s trading partner countries of 100 percent tariffs and India, China and Brazil are at the top of these.
On the one hand, US President Donald Trump is bursting his tariff bomb on all the countries of the world, while on the other hand, Trump has made tariff a weapon to stop the long-running war between Russia and Ukraine. On Monday July 14, 2025 , he threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war with Ukraine in 50 days or else face heavy tariff, a strong retaliation was given by Russia too. At the same time, now North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has warned the countries doing trade with Russia that if they continue to trade with it, then they may have to face 100 percent tariff. In such a situation, the fear of trade war is once again deepening, because it can have a direct impact on countries like China, Brazil and India. Let’s understand how?
‘100% tariff if you continue to trade with Russia’
First of all, let us tell you about NATO’s latest threat. During a meeting with US senators, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that countries that continue to import Russian oil and gas amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine may face strict sanctions and up to 100% tariff. Rutte has especially given a strict warning to India, China and Brazil regarding their current trade with Russia.
Mark Rutte said in clear words that if the person sitting in Moscow does not take the advice to stop the war with Ukraine seriously, then strict tariffs will be imposed to isolate him economically. He said that whether you live in Beijing or Delhi or are the President of Brazil, then you need to pay special attention to this, because if this happens, you three can be affected the most by it. Along with this, the NATO Secretary General also appealed to the three countries to make efforts to seriously persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin for peace talks.
Trump’s blunt words, NATO’s warning
Earlier on Monday, after a meeting with NATO, US President Donald Trump, while pressuring Russia to stop the Ukraine war, had bluntly said (Trump Warns Russia) that if no agreement is reached on the war even after 50 days, it will be very bad and other sanctions including strict tariffs will be imposed. He also indicated that amid rising tensions, the Trump administration is preparing to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil buying countries, which can be up to 100%.
Russia’s counter-attack – ‘We will face…’
After Trump’s threat, Russia also retaliated the very next day and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Donald Trump’s warning on Tuesday, ‘We want to understand why the US President is threatening and I have no doubt that we will face the new sanctions.’ Due to this tension between America and Russia, the possibility of trade war has started deepening once again and concern has increased about the impact on global energy supply.
How is it a cause of trouble for India?
Let us tell you that apart from the Middle East, the countries that are at the top in the list of countries importing crude oil from Russia include China, Turkey, Brazil and India. And if as per the threat of Trump-NATO, Russia does not change its stance within the 50-day time period and tariffs are implemented, then it will become a cause of big trouble for all the countries buying Russian oil.
This is also a big risk for India because amid the Middle East tension, the government has increased the import of crude oil from Russia and now more crude oil is coming to India from Russia than from the Middle East countries. If any kind of strict sanctions are implemented, then along with the disruption of oil supply, there can be a huge increase in cost as well.
India’s Russian oil imports at 11-month high
Recently, a report released data stating that India’s Russian imports (Crude Import from Russia) reached an 11-month high in June. India’s Russian oil imports have been rising steadily since Iranian threats to close the world’s most important oil route, the Strait of Hormuz, during tensions in the Middle East. According to the latest data based on monitoring of Kepler’s oil ship, India imported 20.8 lakh barrels per day (BPD) of Russian crude oil in June, the highest since July 2024.
India’s crude oil imports from Russia are now more than the oil imported from Middle East suppliers like Iraq, UAE and Kuwait. If reports are to be believed, in June the imports from all these countries were around 2 million BPD (Barrels Per Day). India’s oil imports from Russia are increasing continuously and it was 19.6 BPD in May, which has now reached 20.8 lakh barrels per day. US sanctions on Russia, how is it a problem for India? India imports 80 percent of its crude oil requirement and spends a huge amount for it. According to reports, last year in 2024, India imported 232.5 million metric tonnes of crude from various countries and an amount of $ 132 billion (about Rs 11 lakh crore) was spent on it. Another special thing is that in this purchase, the import of crude oil from Russia was the highest. India bought oil worth $ 45.4 billion from Russia. After this, India bought $28.5 billion from Iraq, $23.5 billion from Saudi Arabia, $8.6 billion from UAE, $6.9 billion from US and $5.2 billion from Kuwait.
If we look at these figures, India is currently importing maximum crude oil from Russia and this is a big reason why the recent warning from Trump and NATO is a cause of concern for India.
