From September 8 to 9, EU officials launched internal consultations on a new round of sanctions against Russia, which include considering the imposition of “secondary sanctions” on third countries such as China and India, targeting these countries’ imports of oil and natural gas from Russia.

This discussion is set against the backdrop of the ongoing escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. On September 9, U.S. President Trump joined a telephone meeting with U.S. and EU officials to discuss increasing economic pressure on Russia in a bid to end the war in Ukraine. During the meeting, Trump proposed imposing tariffs of 50% to 100% on countries that purchase Russian oil and urged the EU to take similar measures.

At present, the United States has already imposed such a 50% tariff on India at the end of August, but has not yet implemented similar measures against China, though it had previously warned that China might face such measures.

Trump emphasized that if the EU imposes similar tariffs, the United States will “match” and follow suit.