Poland’s Support to India over US Threat to Levy 500% Tariff
NEW DELHI, Jan 8: Poland has backed India amid New Delhi’s standoff with the United States over its purchase of Russian oil, with Warsaw saying that it was “satisfied” with India’s cutback on imports from Moscow.
This comes amid US President Donald Trump’s renewed threats against India, including the possibility of imposing punitive levies running as high as 500 per cent over the Russian oil imports amid the Ukraine War.
“I expressed my satisfaction that India has reduced Russian oil imports because this is fuelling Putin’s war machine,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said after India’s inaugural engagement with the Weimar Triangle grouping on Wednesday in Paris.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar, along with his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot and German representatives, was also present at the meeting. “We can discuss it further when I travel to India next week,” Sikorski further said.
The Weimar Triangle is a regional political grouping formed in 1991 by France, Germany, and Poland to promote European integration, political dialogue, security cooperation, particularly on Russia and Ukraine, as well as economic and cultural ties. It is named after the German city where the three first met.
EAM S Jaishankar participated in India’s first-ever engagement in the Weimar Triangle format, holding discussions with France’s Barrot, German representatives, and Poland’s Sikorski.
Ties between New Delhi and Washington have been increasingly frosty in recent times. Donald Trump has not only imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Indian imports in the past, but has also greenlit a bipartisan bill that could allow the US to levy tariffs of up to 500 per cent on countries that “knowingly purchase” Russian oil or uranium.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the US President had cleared the legislation after a “productive” meeting, with a vote possible as early as next week. Trump has already hinted at further action, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi “knew I was not happy,” while warning that tariffs could be raised “very quickly.”
Before the renewed threats, Trump had imposed a 25 per cent reciprocal tariff on Indian goods, coupled with an additional 25 per cent penalty linked to India’s Russian oil purchases, which pushed total duties on some products to 50 per cent.
(Manas Dasgupta)
