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Trump Says He’s Readying More Tariffs on Russian Energy Buyers

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump suggested he would impose increased tariffs on additional countries buying energy from Russia — including China — after saying earlier Tuesday that he would raise levies on Indian exports within 24 hours.

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“We’ll be doing quite a bit of that,” Trump said when asked if he would follow through on a previous threat to impose tariffs on additional countries, including China. “We’ll see what happens over the next fairly short period of time.”

Trump also claimed that he “never said a percentage” that he would impose on Russian trading partners. Earlier this month, Trump told reporters he planned to do “very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100%.” That rhetorical retreat suggests Trump may not intend to follow through on the full extent his previous threats.

“We have a meeting with Russia tomorrow,” Trump said. “We’re going to see what happens. We’ll make that determination at that time.”

US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Russia for meetings this week with Russian officials, ahead of Trump’s Aug. 8 deadline for Moscow to reach a truce with Ukraine.

Ukraine’s allies have said energy purchases by countries, including China and India, have helped to prop up Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s economy and undercut pressure on Moscow to end a war that is now in its fourth year.

In an interview with CNBC earlier Tuesday, Trump indicated he would push forward with escalated tariffs on India in particular.

“We settled on 25% but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil,” Trump said. “They’re fueling the war machine. And if they’re going to do that, then I’m not going to be happy.”

At the same time, Trump said he was “getting very close to a deal” with China to extend the trade truce that saw the two countries agree to reduce tit-for-tat tariff hikes and ease export restrictions on rare earth magnets and certain technologies.