India Faces Risk Of 100% Tariff Over Russian Oil, US House Proposes Naming India In Bill

Kyiv: The stir in America has intensified regarding the new sanctions imposed on Russia. US lawmakers have proposed several amendments to a bill to impose new sanctions on countries doing business with Russia. In one of these amendments, there has been a demand to directly include the names of Russia's major trading partner countries including India in the bill.

At the same time, in the second amendment, it has been said that the provision of imposing tariff on Russia should be removed from the bill. This entire matter has now reached the lower house of the US Parliament i.e. the House of Representatives.

What is the new sanctions bill related to Russia?

The bill, which is being called the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, has been passed with an overwhelming majority in the US Senate last month. 86 votes were cast in favour of the bill, while 11 MPs voted against it.

The main objective of this bill is to impose stringent sanctions on Russia's leadership and its energy sector. Apart from this, there is also talk of preparing a path of action against those countries which are supporting the economy of Russia by buying oil.

Which countries including India were demanded to be included in the bill?

Democratic Congressman Steny Hoyer has introduced an amendment. In this, there has been a demand to directly include the names of countries like China, India, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Slovak Republic, UAE, Singapore, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz Republic in the bill.

The purpose of this amendment is to bring countries purchasing oil and gas from Russia on a large scale under the ambit of the proposed sanctions.

Will Trump get the power to impose 100 percent tariffs?

The bill proposes to give President Donald Trump the authority to impose tariffs up to 100 percent on major countries purchasing oil from Russia. However, no country was directly named in the bill passed by the Senate on August 7. It was only said that this rule can be applied to the five countries which buy oil and gas from Russia in the largest quantity.

Now there is a demand for change in this from the MPs.

Are there attempts to limit Trump's tariff powers?

Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks has proposed removing the entire Section 113, which gives Trump the power to impose additional tariffs. This proposal of Meeks has also received the support of three other MPs.

This means that on the one hand, there is a demand in the US Parliament to clarify the action taken against countries that trade with Russia, while on the other hand, efforts are being made to limit the power of the President to impose tariffs.

What impact can buying oil from Russia have on India?

If India is directly included in the proposed sanctions and additional tariffs are imposed on countries buying oil from Russia, it could have an impact on India-US trade. However, in the current picture, this is still part of the proposed amendments and further processing is yet to be completed in the US Parliament before the final rules are implemented.

In the past too, America has been putting pressure on other countries including India to buy oil from Russia. In such a situation, this bill is being considered important for India also.