Unequal treatment reflects a cold combination of political and economic calculations.
United States President Donald Trump has threatened to slap new sanctions on Russia and secondary sanctions on countries that buy Moscow’s crude oil in efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
While Trump imposed an additional 25 percent tariff earlier this month – to a total of 50 percent – on India’s goods, citing its continued imports of Russian oil, he has not instigated similar punitive actions against China, the largest buyer of Russian energy.
So, why has the Trump administration mounted pressure on India to stop purchasing Russian oil while taking little action against China?
As the largest purchaser of Russian oil, China imported a record 109 million tonnes of this product last year, representing nearly 20 percent of its total energy imports, Chinese customs data showed.
