Washington, DC [US], August 16 : House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats said that imposing tariffs on India would not stop Russian President Vladimir Putin or end the conflict in Ukraine.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems urged that, to address that issue, US President Donald Trump must provide Ukraine with the aid it needs and punish Putin directly.
"Tariffing India won't stop Putin. If Trump really wanted to address Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, maybe punish Putin and give Ukraine the military aid it needs. Everything else is smoke and mirrors," the organisation said in a post on X.
{{{{twitter_post_id####}}}}Tariffing India won’t stop Putin.
If Trump really wanted to address Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, maybe punish Putin and give Ukraine the military aid it needs.
Everything else is smoke and mirrors. pic.twitter.com/TxzqhpaKGt
— House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems (@HouseForeign) August 15, 2025
The committee also uploaded an interview with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in which he said that if the tariffs on India did not deter Russia, more secondary tariffs could follow.
"We've put secondary tariffs on the Indians for buying Russian oil. And I could see if things don't go well, then sanctions or secondary tariffs could go up," Bessent said, adding that Trump would make it clear to Putin what all options are there on the table.
"I'm not going to get ahead of the president, but the president is the best at creating leverage for himself, and he will make it clear to President Putin that all options are on the table," he said.
Bessent described sanctions as a dynamic factor, subject to change.
"Sanctions can go up. They can be loosened. They can have a definitive life. They can go on indefinitely. You know, there's this Russian shadow fleet of ships around the world that I think we could crack down on them. President Trump is meeting with President Putin and the Europeans are in the wings, harping about how he should do it, what he should do it," he said.
He said that the Europeans must also join the US in sanctions.
"But the Europeans need to join us in these sanctions. The Europeans need to be willing to put on these secondary sanctions. I was at the G7 meeting in Canada with President Trump and the Europeans kept talking about Senator Graham's bill to do the secondary tariffs. And I looked at all the leaders around the table and I said, is everyone at this table willing to put a 200% secondary tariff on China. And you know what? Everybody wanted to see what kind of shoes they were wearing," he said.
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