EU AND US SANCTIONS AND THREAT OF HIGH TARRIF ON RUSSIAN OIL.

SANCTIONS AND TARRIFS  

In recent days first we have witnessed that United States is preparing a bill seeking to impose 500% tariff  duties on  Soviet oil exported to other countries that continue to  trade with Soviet union. US President Donald Trump is backing Russian Sanctions 2025, and president had threatened imposition of Secondary Tariff of 100%  on countries that continue to trade on sanctioned Russian products.US Congress also issued a threat particularly to countries like China , India and Brazil.According to NATO Chief India, China and Brazil should convince Russian president Valdmir Putin to be serious about peace talks with Ukraine and if they continue to do business with Russia it will "slam back "to them.As the US Congress debates on tightening sanctions on the purchasers of Russian crude oil are gathering momentum especially against India China and Brazil ,It is to be noted here that the European Union (E U) has already sanctioned  the  Gujarat based refinery Nayara  Energy  Limited (Rosneft - Russian Energy Giant with  49.13% stake in Nayara )on purchase of Russian Crude oil. The sanctions also include EU wide import ban on  both refined petroleum and crude oil products from Russia along with full transaction ban including those natural gas pipeline that connect between Russia and Germany. While Russia account for 10% of global supplies of crude, China top the list in oil imports followed by India. But projections made  by experts for the next two decades indicate that India will become the largest consumer of oil accounting for one fourth of total global consumption in the long run. 

In response to Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 a broad coalition of USA, European union, UK, Canada , Australia Japan and others imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia.Russian economy largely with stood the adverse effects of sanctions till date. In any case Russia has been India's strategic and sustainable partner supplying defense equipments  and weaponry and  after conflict with Ukraine supplying largest quantity of crude oil surpassing traditional supppliers from Gulf  region. The President Trump's attempts to bring Russia into the negotiating table and end three year old Ukraine war is quite understandable .The path taken by both European Union and US are  resorting to sanctions along with adopting huge direct and secondary  tariff measures. indiscriminately which are not acceptable because of double standards and discriminatory tendencies. For instance  European Union/NATO have permitted  four countries like Canada,,Norway, Switzerland and United Kingdom  to import crude oil from Russia ,whereas they have issued sanctions against crude oil supply  company Rosneft  in Gujarat. While Republican Lawmaker Lindsay Graham's bill seeks to impose 500% tariff on India for buying Russian oil, Trump himself is considering a secondary tariff of atleast 100%.on countries trading with Russia. Some observed  that India may not be there on the list of 150 countries to whom Trump is sending tariff letters to present their cases strongly in negotiations on tariff and market access. Trump has shown some Indications that India might get a trade agreement like what Indonesia made with  a19% tariff on US imports while getting tax free access to some American products. 

IMPACT ON INDIA 

India is one of the major importer of crude oil and it  continues amidst robust growth of the economy that keep the demand for oil and petroleum products very high.Main suppliers of crude oil to India has been Saudi Arabia, Russia and UAE. Russia's share in total oil imports to the country sky rocketed from 2 % in February 2022 to around 30% now.Moreover the top oil importer in India is  Russian firm Rosneft backed Nayara Energy Limited, followed by Reliance Industries(RIL),Indian Oil Corporation (IOC),Bharat petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation( HPCL).As a policy India do not favour any unilateral sanctions and has been pointing out discriminate double standards like EU members  so far have been procuring oil LNG and pipe line gas from Russia. Russia sells about half of it's oil exports to China followed by India 38% ( as on February 2025 ) .On the contrary Russia exports only 6% to EU countries .As far as European Union sanctions against Soviet union are concerned  India observed that " India is a responsible actor" and remain fully committed  to it's legal obligations. Moreover India considers the achievement of energy security utmost responsibility  and vital importance.  Indian Union Minister for Petroleum Hardeep Puri observed that India would deal with sanctions when they are passed. Country has already diversified its supply sources from 27 in the past to 40 countries at present and petroleum companies are given adequate freedom in their operations. Hence sanctions may not have much impact on India except for some rise in the price of oil.

In conclusion it may be observed that unilateral sanctions are not the panecia for solving conflicts or wars.Very often we found that for few rulers involving in frequent conflicts with their neighbour's will insulate them against domestic opposition and power struggles. They are least bothered about the life and livelihoods of people including their own people.In any case the parties involved should discuss and  study the matters involved in straining the relationship and work out a reasonable and effective solution.