News Brief
Trump Shifts Fury From India To China, Demands Harsh Tariffs And Sanctions For Russian Oil Purchase; Beijing Hits Back
US President Donald Trump (left) and Xi Xinping (right)
US President Donald Trump has shifted his focus from India to China, urging NATO allies to impose crippling tariffs and sanctions in a fiery message, India Today reported.
After months of criticising New Delhi for purchasing Russian oil and slapping steep duties on Indian goods, Trump now sees Beijing as the greater threat.
In a Truth Social post, he demanded that NATO nations “stop buying oil from Russia” and collectively enforce “major sanctions” on Moscow.
“I am ready to do major sanctions on Russia when all NATO nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA… Anyway, I am ready to ‘go’ when you are. Just say when?” Trump wrote.
The US President also pushed for 50–100 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods, insisting they remain in place “until the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended.”
He argued that “China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip.”
This escalation marks a reversal. Earlier, Trump had imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India while limiting China’s to 30 per cent, branding both as Moscow’s enablers.
Washington even labelled India the “Kremlin’s laundromat,” with trade adviser Peter Navarro adding casteist slurs. But after images from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi engaging warmly with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, India still refused to bend on trade concessions.
Facing New Delhi’s defiance and the risk of driving it closer to Moscow and Beijing, Trump softened his stance.
Meanwhile, Beijing has fired back.
According to a report by NDTV, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi rejected Trump’s proposed tariffs, stressing that “China does not participate in or plan wars” and instead “encourages peace talks and promotes political settlement of hotspot issues through dialogue.”
Speaking in Ljubljana after a meeting with Slovenian Deputy PM Tanja Fajon, Wang argued that sanctions would only “complicate” conflicts.
“China and Europe should be friends rather than rivals, and should cooperate rather than confront each other,” he said, adding that both sides must jointly safeguard the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.
Wang’s remarks came just hours after Trump accused Chinese President Xi Jinping of “conspiring against” the US—charges made in the wake of China’s massive 3 September military parade, which North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin attended.
Yet, in a familiar contradiction, Trump insisted that his personal ties with Xi remain “very good.”
With India now reframed as a partner and China in Trump’s crosshairs, Washington’s strategy appears aimed at breaking what the US President calls Beijing’s “grip” on Moscow—without alienating New Delhi.
